Zimpapers Logo

Zimbabwe which is already grappling with a spike in Covid-19 cases mostly from its returning citizens from neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Botswana, has to brace for an even bigger challenge to receive thousands of returnees from bigger countries such as China and the United States of America.

Vice-President Kembo Mohadi said on Thursday that thousands of Zimbabweans stranded in China, the US, SA and other countries had registered to come home. The country had by Wednesday recorded nearly 400 Covid-19 cases and most of these were from returnees from SA and Botswana.

Vice-President Mohadi, who is also the chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Covid-19, said on Tuesday that the country received about 280 Zimbabweans from the US and thousands have already been received from SA and Botswana.

He said the country was therefore putting in place mechanisms to receive the returning citizens. Vice-President Mohadi said some of the returning citizens were from Covid-19 epicentres such as the US and UK which have been hard hit by the pandemic.

He said there was a need for the returnees to be tested at the point of entry so that those who are positive are immediately isolated to avoid a situation whereby the returnees infect each other at quarantine centres.

There is also an urgent need to identify more quarantine centres as schools and colleges which were used as quarantine centres are preparing to open. The issue of testing returnees at the point of entry is critical if the country is to avoid the spread of the pandemic at quarantine centres.

Sadc countries should also move with speed to implement the recommendation for member states to test returning residents in countries they have been resident in before they return to their respective countries.

China is already doing that and as such most of the returnees from China are testing negative to Covid-19 because they are cleared before they leave China.

There is a need to adopt this approach globally to lessen the burden especially on developing countries such as Zimbabwe that are receiving returnees from countries such as the US, China and the UK that have resources to test the returnees before they leave the respective countries.

There have been complaints about conditions at our quarantine centres that are motivating people to abscond and these should be urgently addressed.

There is also need to ensure adequate test kits are available to avoid a situation whereby those that have served their quarantine period are forced to extend their stay waiting to be tested.

We also want to appeal to the international community to assist with resources such as test kits to enable developing countries to effectively implement strategies to curb the spread of this devastating pandemic which has affected millions and killed thousands worldwide.