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It is still early days yet but the fact that Bulawayo has had zero new Covid-19 positive cases in 13 days amid intensifying testing for the disease is cause for optimism.

In saying this, we must emphasise at the outset that we aren’t naive to declare success so early against the devastating disease. Doing so would be grossly irresponsible and likely lead to complacency among the people in the city.

Authorities in Italy have been accused of initially underestimating Covid-19 when cases were first reported in that country around January 30. Life went on as normal in the European nation until February 21 when municipalities in the worst affected areas initiated lock-downs. With 26 000 deaths, Italy had the most deaths to Covid-19 in Europe by late yesterday. Critics argue cases could have been fewer had authorities in that country acted faster.

In comparison, lessons from New Zealand show the benefits of acting early against the infection. There are many factors involved in the New Zealand case, among them the geographical isolation of the island nation and the relative ease with which its borders can be sealed to illegal migration, but the Oceania country was one of the first in the world to impose tough restrictions to curb the disease. It had about 1 500 cases and 19 deaths by late yesterday. On Monday, the government there declared the coronavirus effectively eliminated.

Thus we learn from Italy that complacency can be lethal and from New Zealand that caution can mean success.

It is encouraging that since Bulawayo recorded its first Covid-19 positive case on April 8, the figure rising to 10 by April 15, there has not been positive cases since then. Nationally, there were 32 people confirmed to be infected with coronavirus by yesterday, the highest on a provincial scale being 14 in Harare.

As reported on these pages yesterday, eight of Bulawayo’s cases could be traced to patient 11, Ian Hyslop (79) who lived at a local retirement home before his death to Covid-19 at Mater Dei Hospital. It is believed that he contracted the virus after being in contact with a British tourist. Hyslop is the only fatality in

Bulawayo while there are two others in Harare and one in Mashonaland West.

We hope and pray that the number of positive cases would remain that low in the city even as testing services are being expanded to establish if there are more people infected. Indeed, that is our hope and prayer for the whole country.

Contact tracing and the lockdown, according to health experts, have helped the city prevent a disaster for now. Also, police in Bulawayo have been arresting those violating the lockdown and the city has the highest number of those arrested so far. On its part, the Bulawayo City Council has been pulling down vending stalls and clamping vehicles whose owners have no authority to be in the central business district as part of efforts to prevent large gatherings.

While this is cause for some optimism, we must express our unhappiness over violations of the lockdown by so many people in Bulawayo.

Police statistics indicate that of the 14 774 people that had been arrested for breaching the lockdown by Monday, Bulawayo topped the list with 3 578 arrests, followed by Manicaland Province at 2 990 arrests.

Without being pedantic over why Bulawayo has the most arrests, it is evident that many days look normal in the city centre lately, with a large volume of vehicular traffic, people queuing at shops and money transfer agencies. In the western suburbs people can be seen daily walking about as if there is no lockdown. We have carried reports on this very concerning situation so we have no reason to believe that the high number of arrests is not reflective of the level of lockdown violations in Bulawayo.

Mpilo Central Hospital acting chief executive officer Dr Solwayo Ngwenya told Chronicle on Monday that Bulawayo’s Covid-19 cases remain subdued due to the lockdown but warned that the city isn’t in the clear yet. Were it not for the lockdown, he said, Covid-19 positive cases could be spiralling out of control.

“Remember we recorded our first case when we already had implemented the national lockdown,” Dr Ngwenya said.

“So, this has enabled the city’s rapid response team to effectively trace suspected cases and contain them. They have managed to test cases, containing local transmission. If we were not on lockdown, we could have recorded thousands of cases as most of our people are not observing social distancing.”

So yes that the city has gone for so long with no new Covid-19 cases is worth noting.

However, that slowdown comes amid a business-as-usual situation in Bulawayo as seen in high vehicular and human traffic hence the high number of arrests for lockdown violation.

Therefore as we move forward, guarded optimism must be the watchword.