The ManicaPost
FOR observers in Zimbabwe, it was shocking when in January the Chinese government effectively sealed off Wuhan, the epicentre of Covid-19 back then, thereby confining residents in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.
Fast forward to March 23, Zimbabwe closed its borders to non-residents to fend off imported Covid-19 cases. We are now in May and we are deep into this strange and difficult new reality where we have to quarantine and self-isolate to break the chain of infection.
Several quarantine centres have since been established across the country to cater for the returning Zimbabweans, among them five centres in Manicaland.
Since the establishment of the quarantine centres, the province has welcomed hundreds of returning residents, who are subsequently cleared after the mandatory quarantine period. But before they begin their quarantine journey, the returnees are reminded that for the safety of their family and their loved ones, they have to do what is necessary to protect them — stay away until they are cleared of Covid-19. But despite all these efforts at national level, a section of defiant returnees escaped from Marymount Teachers’ College last week to avoid the country’s preventive measures. They had availed fake residential addresses and therefore they could be anywhere, interacting and possibly infecting their loved ones.
While the police have been roped in to hunt down the culprits and return them to quarantine, it is supposed to be our basic and social responsibility on a personal level to observe the quarantine period when we are supposed to do so. The police should not have to force us to avoid crowded places and keep the distance from other people during this pandemic.
Quarantine, which is the separation of the returning residents from the rest of the population for the purposes of monitoring their symptoms and ensuring early detection, is being implemented as part of a comprehensive package of the nation’s public health response and containment measures.
Placing people in quarantine reduces physical contact and therefore limits opportunities for transmission of the virus. However, unpleasant the experience, quarantine has proved to be a useful tool in slowing down Covid-19 infection.
With no vaccine or treatment available, health experts agree that these measures are the best in curbing the virus.
To keep negative feelings during quarantine at a minimum, officials need to ease off returnees’ anxiety by constantly giving them adequate information. It is crucial that they be reminded that quarantine is essential in protecting the nation’s health and that it doesn’t make them lesser Zimbabweans. Doing so could possibly eliminate the stigma attached to Covid-19 and the fear of being quarantined.
But Covid-19 is real and there is no way of sugar-coating the news around the pandemic.
While more than five million people have been infected by the virus worldwide since it emerged last year in December, Zimbabwe’s Covid-19 cases have been steadily increasing, with the number now standing at 56, including 18 recoveries and four deaths.
In an effort to contain the virus, Zimbabwe has been in lockdown for more than two months and several sectors, especially tourism, have taken a heavy knock. Therefore the gains achieved through such sacrifices should not be compromised by a few defiant individuals. Zimbabwe therefore needs to look at how other countries are doing it.
Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have managed to keep their numbers relatively low by enforcing strict quarantine rules for those who test positive, those exposed as well as all travellers and returning residents. It is crucial to note that this has been enforced by an extensive reliance on technology.
In Hong Kong, residents returning are handed an electric bracelet at the airport and are mandated to stay at home for a 14-day quarantine. The bracelet is connected to a phone application that uses geo-fencing technology. The system is able to detect if users leave the predefined zone, in which case the authorities are notified and immediately attend to it.
Our institutions of higher learning need to step up to the plate and come up with technological solutions to the problems we are currently facing. With several of them having already proven their worth through the production of a ventilator, protective wear and sanitisers, this could be the icing on the cake.
Let those innovative minds shine.
