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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
THE Civil Protection Unit (CPU) has started sensitising the public about the deadly Covid-19 pandemic through text messages.

The unit is taking advantage of the wide reach of mobile phones as almost every household in the country has at least one cellphone.

Previously the Ministry of Health and Child Care was the only one providing Covid-19 daily statistics, through its social media account on Twitter.

Twitter is however, exclusive as not every citizen has a social media account.

The CPU started sending the messages on Friday under the banner COVID19ZIM.

The daily Covid-19 statistics, inclusive of new infections, deaths, recoveries and the total number of people to have contracted the virus in the country are sent to mobile phone subscribers.

For instance, yesterday, it provided the Covid-19 statistics for Sunday when 978 new cases and 24 deaths were reported.

The cumulative Covid-19 cases stood at 21 477 since March last year while 12 582 had recovered from the virus and 507 succumbed to the pandemic.

The disaster management agency further urged citizens to wear masks.

The CPU urged the public to use tollfree 2019 when they want to communicate on any emergency relating to Covid-19.

CPU director Mr Nathan Nkomo yesterday said they have resorted to communicating using text messages because they want to reach as many citizens as possible.

“The assumption is that almost everyone, be it rural or urban area, has a gadget that we call a cellphone. I’m confident we are covering a bigger area than before given that mobile networks are covering almost every corner of the country,” said Mr Nkomo.

The Covid -19 pandemic was declared a national disaster by President Mnangagwa and Mr Nkomo said it should therefore not surprise people that the CPU is assisting in disseminating information on the pandemic.

“You must understand the definition of a disaster. A disaster is any major accident or destruction, pollution or scarcity of essential services or disruption of essential services, plague or epidemic or disease that threatens life and well-being of the community. So, it is not anything surprising that the Department of Civil Protection is involved.

After all it is the CPU that is housing the national Covid-19 command centre,” he said

Mr Nkomo said the CPU was concerned because many people were not adhering to the health protocols meant to curb the spread of the pandemic such as putting on masks, maintaining social and physical distancing, sanitising and other such measures recommended by health experts.

National University of Science and Technology (Nust) lecturer and communication expert Dr Mphathisi Ndlovu said while text messages could reach a wider audience, there is need for communicators to consider language diversity.

“Text messaging can be an effective tool of communicating with the general public compared to social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook which can be elitist. However, when producing and circulating information through sms, it is important for the authorities to consider issues such as language and other forms of cultural diversity in the country. The messages should go beyond providing statistics, but must address the concerns of the general public,” said Dr Ndlovu. -@nqotshili