Corona virus presents one of the
greatest existential threat to mankind the world has ever faced. Whilst the virus
has spared no nation on earth but how each nation will fare will depend on how
well or badly the nation has fought against the virus.
The corona virus originated in
China and we knew it was being spread by an infected person passing the virus
to others. So, the first line of defence for the rest of the world was for each
individual country to make sure no one brings the virus into the country. Anyone
arriving at all its entry-points was either refused entry or subjected to very
strict quarantine conditions for the duration of the virus incubation period.
New Zealand is the one country
that has imposed strict quarantine conditions and has had very few, if any at
all, cases of anyone who has not travelled outside the country catching the
corona virus.
Zimbabwe’s first covid-19 case
was the late Zororo Makamba who, on arrival from trip outside the country, have
the covid-19 symptoms and immigration officials tried to detain him. He
reportedly called a senior Zanu PF official who instructed the immigration
staff to let him go – that is how totally ineffective our first line of defence
was!
Once the virus was in the
country, the second line of defence was to test, track and isolate all
suspected covid-19 cases aggressively. South Korean and Germany are the two
countries that have done well in this regard.
Zimbabwe has not been testing
aggressively ignoring all the repeated advice to do so. There is growing
evidence that the Zanu PF regime is deliberately under reporting the number of
the covid-19 cases in the country for selfish political gain. The regime is falsifying
the true number of covid-19 cases and deaths to take the sting out of the criticism
for its failure to contain the virus if the true figures got out; just as China
did.
China tried to keep a lid on
the corona virus outbreak by silencing the Wuhan doctor who first diagnosed the
new virus. Most people do not believe that the Chinese government has under
reported the covid-19 cases and deaths. The combination of reporting the
outbreak late and under reporting the cases has contributed to the virus
spreading all over the world. And by the same token Zanu PF’s failure to test
aggressively, under reporting the cases and other acts of continued blundering
incompetence are helping the virus spread far and wide within our borders.
Still, if the nation was to
believe the regime’s report that there have been a total of 56 confirmed cases
in the country and the overwhelming majority of these cases are people coming
into the country then there is need for the country to tighten its quarantine
conditions. Reports of people escaping from quarantine centres is therefore
cause for serious alarm.
“I can confirm that 99
returnees have escaped from various quarantine centres across the country,” said
ZRP spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, according to a Zimeye
report.
“However, some of them have
been arrested. As police, we have stepped up our patrols to ensure that
returnees do not escape. We are working with other stakeholders such as the
Ministry of Health and Child Care to ensure compliance. We also urge returnees
to comply with the quarantine regulations.”
Anyone who has followed story
of unhygienic condition in most of these quarantine centres would not be
surprised returnees are escaping. Why the regime has failed to provide
something as basic as clean running water beggars belief! These quarantine
centres are covid-19 hotspots in their own right.
To make matters worse, the
regime is not testing and screening these returnees timeously, reportedly
because it is running out of test kits. The prospect of someone with no corona
virus on arrival getting it during they stay there, particularly when the stay
there could be extended well beyond the stipulated 21 days, in real and scary!
And yet I would plead with the escaped
returnees to go back to the quarantine centres. Here are some things that can
do to not only enhance their own chances of surviving covid-19 but also help
others, the nation, survive:
1)
If you can make your own quarantine arrangements then go ahead.
Make sure you have all the details of where you will be staying, how you will
get there, who will take care of you if you should become sick, etc., etc. If
the government cannot provide a safe quarantine conditions then it has no cause
to deny those who can do so on their own.
2)
If you have to stay in the government provided quarantine
centres then think of the many things you and your follow residence can do to
minimise the spread of the virus. You can agree on each group of returnees
staying in one block, using the same table, etc. Where different groups have to
share the same resource such as a common water supply agree on time slots for
each group and make sure the resource is thoroughly cleaned after each group’s
use.
3)
If anyone in the group should be sick, assume it is covid-19,
and isolate the individual as much as possible and take care of their basic needs
of food, water, etc. A time is coming when you will ask for help and none will
come; you will have to count on each other.
4)
Last but most important of all, keep a detailed account of what
happened; for one thing, it will help keep your sanity in the midst of all the madness
around you!
Just because we have the
misfortune of having a corrupt, incompetent government that is more interested
in hiding its blundering incompetence by falsifying the seriousness of covid-19
does not mean we should just give up and become one of the hundreds of
thousands of wasted human lives.
Zimbabwe has received close to
4 000 returnees for far, there are a hell lot more returnees to come. The chaos,
confusion, suffering and deaths in our quarantine centres and in society at
large is set to reach nauseating heights as the covid-19 outbreak reaches its
peak!
8 comments:
It is often said one often meets their destiny by the route one takes to avoid it. We is Zimbabwe have taken the most arduous and circuitous to avoid having to deal with the thorny problem of bad governance. Zimbabweans have left the country in droves these last two decades, to escape the political and/or economic consequences of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship. We did not want to address the problem of bad governance and so we left.
The worldwide corona virus outbreak has now made it near impossible for many of us to stay in the distant lands we settled. We are returning in droves only to find the corrupt and tyrannical regime still in power and the country is a worse economic state than when we left.
Worse still, Zimbabwe has not been spared by the corona virus, indeed the economic chaos and deprivation across the land plus the blundering incompetence of the Zanu PF regime have all conspired to help the virus spread far and wide. The returnees are now finding themselves forced to stay in quarantine centres in such unhygienic conditions, many of them do not even have clean running water, they know the risk of getting the covid-19 infections is very high.
The tragedy is most of those who escaped from the quarantine centres will have nowhere better to go. At least 80% of the country’s population including those in urban centres do not have clean running water. If they should have the covid-19 virus and need hospital treatment, they will find none because the country’s health care services collapsed a long time ago.
I totally agree, escaping from the quarantine centres is not going to solve anything because one the risk of catching the virus outside the quarantine centres is the same as inside.
Welcome back to hell-on-earth comrades!
Whether you getting out of the quarantine centre alive or in a coffin will depend on how well you confront the problem of bad governance. Whether you survive outside the quarantine centre or you die of covid-19, poverty or whatever else awaits you will also depend on how well you deal with the bad governance problem. Yes, comrades you left the country all those many moons ago to avoid having to deal with bad governance, the problem did not go away it has awaited you return. Now you have nowhere to escape to, deal with the problem or you will die!
PATIENTS seeking admission to public and private hospitals are now required to produce coronavirus test results before being taken in under a new policy likely to force the majority poor to die at home due to the prohibitive costs involved.
Health and Child Care deputy minister John Mangwiro confirmed the new policy requirement when he was quizzed over the matter in Parliament by Masvingo senator Tichinani Mavetera (MDC Alliance) on Thursday.
Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights secretary Norman Matara said they had received reports of pregnant mothers placed in quarantine centres and only tested for coronavirus.
"We have raised concerns that we have shifted our focus to the COVID-19 pandemic, neglecting patients suffering from other chronic illnesses which are preventable. Patients suffering from chronic illnesses like diabetes and other diseases that need monitoring are finding it hard since most hospitals have closed out patients seeking medical attention. We are urging the government to monitor such cases because we cannot afford to have patients suffering from chronic illnesses losing their lives from preventable diseases," Matara said.
The nightmare of the corona virus pandemic is now beginning to be felt! The public and private hospitals are refusing to attend to patients with no covid-19 test results confirming they are negative because the institution is not equipped to handle covid-19 patients. The number of patients with covid-19 is certainly increasing and is much higher than the 56 confirmed cases would suggest.
Asking people to produce a covid-19 test result will not solve anything because those who are covid-19 positive need medical help as much as any other patient. The solution is for government to equip health workers with adequate PPE to carry out their duties without risking their own lives. The country’s health care service is weak and feeble already but to deprive it of the few health care workers will be madness.
Recent laboratory tests have shown that 48 percent of hand sanitisers and face masks produced locally have failed to meet the mandatory health standards and Government is now working with the manufacturers to improve the quality of the products, a Cabinet minister has said.
In a country's industrial base has been totally decimated it is a great achievement the country is able to produce anything!
Gwaradzimba said lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic were that the government should not neglect but invest in the public health sector.
“Lessons learnt or drawn from Covid-19 is that we should invest where our lives are. Health institutions are critical, they should never be neglected,” she said.
The minister was speaking at a community engagement press club meeting on Covid-19 convened by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) in the eastern border city.
“In the past, some people used to rely on foreign health facilities in countries such as South Africa, Dubai and India but this time around, those countries have closed their borders,” she said.
The minister said donors once relied on by the government to come in and offer health facilities due to failure by government, were no longer supporting Zimbabwe as they were also facing similar challenges of fighting the spread of Covid-19 in their countries of origin.
“They have closed their borders and no one is willing to donate because they are facing a similar challenges we are facing here in Zimbabwe.
“So we will all die here; rich, poor, or whatever,” she said.
The minister said as a country, authorities were compelled to ensure that health facilities were functional to provide care to citizens.
“We are forced all of us to make sure our health institutions are in good shape to take care of ourselves because this disease is invisible and you don’t know the day you will contract it. So, the best thing is to have good facilities in place,” she said.
After 40 years of neglect, the health care service cannot be revived overnight. All the regime is doing is making sure all the donated cash and equipment to fight covid-19 are channelled to staffing and equipping Rock Foundation Hospital, St Anne Hospital and one or two other institutions for the exclusive use of the ruling elite during these lockdown periods when they cannot travel out of the country.
The other day, VP Chiwenga visited some rural hospitals fitted in PPE the equivalent of the moon traveller space suit. And yet the health care workers in the hospital were lucky to have a cheap face mask and gloves for the visit. Go back there now and the staff have no face mask and no gloves and yet they are the ones who will be dealing with covid-19 patients on a daily basis! Chiwenga has a whole box full of the space-suit PPE, just in case he should ever be forced to travel outside his home. He does not need the lockdown rules, his paranoia has him all but locked up in a bubble, paralysed! No doubt, one wing of his sprawling mansion has already been turned into a private hospital complete with the monitors, ventilators, medicine, staff, everything.
“So we will all die here; rich, poor, or whatever,” said Minister Ellen Gwaradzimba.
No doubt she is not considered senior enough to be given a space-suit PPE but will probably be admitted in Rock Foundation Hospital if there are not many patients. The ordinary Zimbabweans will have nowhere to go and they are the ones who will die in their hundreds of thousands!
President John Pombe Magufuli’s government has taken issues with the United States of America (USA) Ambassador to Tanzania, Chargé d’Affaires Inmi Patterson, for allegedly revealing COVID-19 data to the world without the government’s knowledge.
According to reports released this Tuesday evening, Chargé d’Affaires Inmi Patterson has been ordered to only share data that has been verified or rather issued by the government
“The risk of contracting COVID-19 in Dar es Salaam is extremely high. Despite limited official reports, all evidence points to the exponential growth of the epidemic in Dar and other locations in Tanzania.
“The Embassy has strongly recommended that U.S. government personnel and their families remain at home except for essential activities (e.g., grocery shopping) and substantially limit into private homes the entry of anyone but regular residents.
“Many hospitals in Dar es Salaam have been overwhelmed in recent weeks. Limited hospital capacity throughout Tanzania could result in life-threatening delays for medical care, including for those with COVID-19,” read the statement in part, which was shared on twitter.
African leaders’ instinct is to bury their heads in the sand and so it is no surprise that many African countries have been under reporting covid-19 cases and deaths.
In Zimbabwe we have not been testing, tracking and tracing aggressively, so our covid-19 official data is meaningless. To make matters worse, the regime has not always reported all the covid-19 positive cases.
Zimbabwe: a country of 16 million has 56 covid-19 cases and 4 deaths. Whilst its neighbours Botswana, Zambia and South Africa, for example, have not been spared with 2.3 million 35/1, 18 million 920/7 and 60 million 24 264/524 respectively! And yet when it comes to travelling around Zimbabweans are the great wanders in the region since the country’s economy has long collapsed making the country a nation of vendors. How can we be so lucky!
There is a very high price to be paid for falsifying covid-19 cases because doing so will allow the virus to spread far and wide. And so many more people will be infected and many more will die! Simples!
BULAWAYO has recorded nine Covid-19 recoveries leaving only two active cases but health experts are warning against complacency as it could steer a comeback of the virus.
According to an update by the Ministry of Health and Child Care, as of Monday, Bulawayo had nine recoveries, which stem from 12 confirmed cases, one of them fatal.
Bulawayo has a population of nearly 2 million people and to retain a lockdown because there are 2 active covid-19 cases, who are in isolation already anywhere, does not make any sense.
If there are indeed only 2 active covid-19 cases then it is insane to disrupt the children’s education, economic activities, etc. because you feared the spread of covid-19 when there was no one with the virus to start with. Zimbabwe has already established that there is no covid-19 cases amongst those in the country, it should focus all its attention on making sure those arriving do not bring the virus. A nationwide lockdown of a population in which there are no covid-19 cases is downright stupid!
The authority has retained the lockdown because they know there are a number of covid-19 cases out there. Under reporting the virus cases has only helped it to spread and we will pay dearly for this foolish decision.
As of the 26th of May 2020, Zimbabwe has recorded 63 COVID-19 cases with 25 recoveries. The 7 new cases are returnees from SA.
This is according to latest update from the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
We have had no local covid-19 infections, the infection is coming from outside Zimbabwe, if the regime’s reports are to be believed, and so why impose a lockdown on a population in which no one has the virus? This is downright stupid and the nation will pay dearly for this!
The overwhelming majority of the 63 cases are people who had arrived into the country, proof we do not have local infection. So why is the regime maintain a nationwide lockdown disrupting the children’s education, commerce and industry, etc.?
Covid-19 has caused so much disruption of our education system it is no exaggeration to say the year has been written off. We all know that it is not practical to ask students to repeat since this will cause a bottle-neck build-up and so students will be forced to move on. I can only imagine how hard I would have had to struggle to catch-up if I had missed a month let alone a term, a whole year!
Health Minister Obadiah Moyo told Parliament that Government was bracing for a spike in coronavirus infections in the country mainly coming from returnees and deportees.
He said the country would likely get positive cases from Botswana and South Africa. Moyo said there was need for the ministry to double testing and contact tracing efforts.
The curse of having a corrupt and incompetent government is none of what the regime says and do make any sense. The overwhelming majority of the 63 covid-19 cases in the country have been returnees and deportees and all the confirmed cases are in secure isolation. So why is the regime maintain a nationwide lockdown when there are no covid-19 cases in the population.
Surely the regime should focus all its time, energy and resources on making sure quarantine centres where the returnees and deportees are kept are not covid-19 hotspots by improving their present unhygienic conditions, for example.
It is now clear that Zimbabwe imposed a nationwide lockdown because SA and Botswana did. And we are retaining the lockdown for exactly the same reason! How idiotic is that!
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