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Mashudu Netsianda ,Senior Reporter
THE number of people infected with Covid-19 in Zimbabwe has risen to 14 after one more person tested positive out of 84 samples taken from four provinces.

To date Zimbabwe has three deaths from the deadly global pandemic, which has so far claimed more than 100 000 lives globally and left more than 1,7 million infected.

In a statement, the Secretary of Health and Child Care Dr Agnes Mahomva said 523 samples were negative while 14 are positive.

“The ministry would like to report that today (yesterday) the National Microbiology Reference Laboratory tested 84 samples from four provinces. The samples were from Bulawayo, 58, Harare, 23, Mashonaland East 2, and Mashonaland Central, 1. Of the 79 samples available at the time of the print, one tested positive for Covid-19” she said.

To date, the country has run 547 tests.

Dr Mahomva said active contact tracing for the 11th case involving a 79-year-old man who is already deceased, is in progress. The deceased succumbed to the disease a week ago upon admission to Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo.

The deceased has no reported history of travelling outside the country, but had however, indicated that he had been to a tourist resort in Hwange between March 14 and 16.

A total of 47 primary contacts of this case have been identified.

Dr Mahomva said it has been established that there were no other guests at the Hwange lodge in which the deceased and his wife stayed for two days last month.

“Following their departure, the lodge has not booked any clients to date. Further, the ministry established that all the seven staff members that the case was in direct contact with during his stay were asymptomatic,” she said

Dr Mahomva said in line with the decentralisation strategy for testing, training of laboratory scientists at the National TB Reference Laboratory in Bulawayo for Covid-19 testing is currently underway.

Covid-19 testing services for the southern region is expected to start on Monday.

Dr Mahomva urged citizens to practise good personal hygiene to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Although the virus started in China, the Asian giant has successfully managed to contain it but it is causing havoc in Europe and America, where infections and fatalities continue to rise.

Government has imposed a 21-day countrywide lockdown to restrict travelling as part of measures to mitigate spread of the virus countrywide.

Other countries have also imposed lockdowns as the virus thrives in crowded places. — @mashnets