Online Reporter
FIVE years ago, on this day, Zimbabwe confirmed its first COVID-19 case.A foreign national, who was living in Victoria Falls, appeared to have been infected in the UK.
He acted responsibly on his return to Zimbabwe quarantining himself as a returning traveller from an affected country.
He continued isolating himself when he felt ill. Then then Minister of Health and Child Care Obadiah Moyo announced the first confirmed case on the night of March 20, 2020.
He said the foreign national had travelled back into Zimbabwe from Manchester, UK.
“Today, 20 March, 2020, National Microbiology Reference Laboratory at Sally Mugabe Central confirms that a suspected case of Covid-19 had tested positive. This is the first case of Covid-19 in Zimbabwe,” said Dr Moyo.
“The patient is a 38-year-old Caucasian male and resident of Victoria Falls who had travelled to Manchester, United Kingdom on 7 March and returned to his home in Victoria Falls on 15 March via South Africa.
“After arrival he put himself in self quarantine at home as per our advice that all travellers from Covid-19 affected countries.
“On realising that he was not feeling too well he contacted his medical practitioner by telephone advising him that he had a persistent cough and sneezing.
“The general practitioner alerted the local COVID-19 rapid response team from the Ministry of Health and Child Care who immediately went to assess him and recommended that he continues with self- isolation at home.”
He added:
“Specimens were also collected and ferried to the reference laboratory for testing and continued with self-isolation at home and he is showing signs of recovery after some positive management at home.
“As a result of our preparedness we managed to identify this first case in a timely fashion and ensure that he was appropriately managed.
“Our teams are now being assisted by the patient himself. The nation be calm as we deal with this case of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe.”
Three days after the announcement, media specialist and socialite Zororo Makamba, the son of business mogul James Makamba, became the first person to succumb to Covid-19-related complications in Zimbabwe.
By the time the pandemic eased, more than 264 215 cumulative cases and 7 670 deaths had been reported. But, given the wild predictions by many medical experts of an Ammargeddon, this represented a massive victory for the Government which adopted a rough approach against the virus, including enforced lockdowns and a successful national vaccination programme.
A one-hour documentary dubbed ‘Fighting the Wave − How a Nation United To Fight The COVID-19 Pandemic’, provides in depth coverage of how the country battled the beast.
It remains an authoritative narrative of how an entire country came together to confront a monster and, in the end, found a way to limit the damage which it inflicted.
Mathew Masinge