The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Reporter
MANICALAND’S Covid-19 cases more than doubled in the last two weeks of January, reports from the Ministry of Health and Child Care have revealed.
This saw the province recording 105 positive cases during the week ending January 21 and 119 cases during the week ending January 28.
This was after the province had recorded 56 and 47 cases during the first two weeks of the month respectively.
In an interview, acting Manicaland Provincial Medical Director, Dr Munyaradzi Mukuzunga said during the last three days of the month, 51 people tested positive to Covid-19.
He said overall, the province recorded 378 positive cases for the month of January alone.
Dr Mukuzunga attributed the spike to people’s reluctance to adhere to the World Health Organisation (who)’s prescribed Covid-19 prevention measures.
“People are no longer following the WHO prescribed measures that were put in place to help prevent the spread of the disease. This includes the wearing of face masks, washing hands regularly, physical distancing as well as getting vaccinated. This is why the virus keeps spreading and cases are rising,” he said.
Over the month under review, the province recorded six deaths due to Covid-19.
The deaths were recorded in Buhera, Nyanga and Chimanimani.
Two deaths were recorded in the second week, while four more were recorded in the third week.
However, Dr Mukuzunga said most of the cases recorded in the province have mild symptoms and the patients are being treated at home.
He said to curb the spread of the virus, there is need to keep taking the necessary preventive measures to avoid infection.
“People need to keep sanitising and washing their hands regularly, putting on their masks properly all the times, avoiding crowded places and always maintaining at least one metre from the next person,” said Dr Mukuzunga.
Provincial reports for 26 days in the month of January reveal that Mutasa and Chimanimani are the hotspot areas for Covid-19 in the province as they recorded most of the cases, with the two districts recording 70 and 56 cases respectively.
Makoni and Nyanga came third and fourth with 45 and 43 cases respectively.
The district with the least number of positive cases recorded in January was Chipinge, which had 13 cases.
Mutare City recorded 27 cases, while Mutare Rural had 21 cases.
Dr Mukuzunga said as part of interventions to help curb the spread of the virus, the Ministry of Health and Child Care is continuously raising awareness on Covid-19 and encouraging people to get vaccinated.
“We keep raising awareness on the importance of following the requisite Covid-19 preventative measures, including vaccination,” he said.
Dr Mukuzunga said Covid-19 vaccines reduce the chances of contracting the virus as well as seriously getting ill in case one contracts the disease.
The vaccine also reduces the chances of death.
He said as of January 30, a total of 224 645 people in Manicaland had received all three doses, while 793 441 people had only received two doses.
A total of 988 384 people had received their first dose.
Dr Mukuzunga reiterated that people need to get fully vaccinated to reduce chances of getting a severe bout of the virus.
He said isolation centres for Covid-19 patients are readily available at all medical institutions across the province.
“We have adequate isolation centres at every public medical institution in the province, with the largest being the one at the provincial referral hospital, the Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital. These centres are always reserved for such cases. We are always ready and our isolation centres are well-equipped,” he said.
Dr Mukuzunga urged people exhibiting flu-like symptoms to get tested for Covid-19 at their nearest health facility, adding that this will help in curbing the spread of the virus.
“The symptoms of Covid-19 include headache, general body weakness, fever, loss of smell, feeling unwell, coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, sneezing, diarrhoea and backache. If you have any of these symptoms get tested for Covid-19 at the nearest health facility. Covid-19 tests are free at all public health institutions,” said Dr Mukuzunga.
