Zimbabwe’s Covid-19 cases reach 222 as more returnees test positive

Zimbabwe on Wednesday recorded 16 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the country’s total confirmed infections to 222, the Ministry of Health and Child Care has said. The new Covid-19 cases came out of 849 RDT screening tests and 722 PCR diagnostic tests conducted countrywide.

The majority of the country’s cases are from returnees from worst hit nations in the region and beyond, with very few locally-transmitted cases so far registered. “Sixteen cases tested positive for Covid-19 today. These are all returnees from South Africa and are all isolated,” the ministry said in its daily update.

“To date the total number of confirmed cases is 222, recovered 29, active cases 189 and four deaths, since the onset of the outbreak on 20 March 2020.”

So far, the biggest rise was when the southern African nation recorded 76 new cases of Covid-19 in one day and is partly explained by the government’s expanded testing regime now in place. All new cases except one were reported among returnees from mainly SA and Botswana.

Also, the southern African nation has tightened security at quarantine centres for returnees to ensure no one escaped. This comes amid a total of 149 returnees escaped from quarantine centres and some have been apprehended and charged. Zimbabwe is currently in level 2 national lockdown for an indefinite period to slow the spread of Covid-19.