Chronicle Editor
Lumbidzani Dima, Chronicle Reporter
MORE people in Zimbabwe are now recovering from Covid-19 and infections are dropping drastically after the Omicron variant wreaked havoc during the festive season.
Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Dr John Mangwiro told Chronicle yesterday that rising recovery rates are a sign that things are getting better.
Last month, the outlook was bad due to Omicron, which was classified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation and has so far proven to be more deadly compared to the Beta variant, which fuelled the second wave that was prevalent during the festive season in December 2020.
As the recovery rate goes up with the start of a new year, the number of new infections per day have also started going down.
An analysis of the recovery rate from the beginning of December to now shows that it started off high, then dramatically decreased but started rising in the new year.
On December 1, the national recovery rate was at a high of 96 percent, and at that time there were only 1 846 active cases.
The rate then started falling on a daily basis until December 17 when it reached 71 percent with the number of active cases going up to 50 707.
Around that time, President Mnangagwa announced new lockdown measures and it seems that paid off.
As from December 21 up to now, the recovery rate has been going up.
On December 22 the recovery rate was at 74 percent, and has been climbing. On Sunday it stood at 87 percent.
On that day, there were 373 new infections, also marking a decline in the number of new daily cases.
The highest number of new infections was recorded on December 16 when 4 247 new cases were recorded.
As of Sunday, Zimbabwe had 222 291 confirmed cases, including 194 306 recoveries and 5 160 deaths.
There were 164 hospitalised cases which is lower than the previous day which had 228 hospitalised cases.
Dr Mangwiro said the rise in the recovery rate is a very good sign that things will get better.
“People are listening to what the Government said, they are practising preventive measures, they are masking up, they are vaccinating.
More people are vaccinating, which is a good sign that things are and will get better,” he said
Dr Mangwiro urged people to continue being careful because Covid-19 still exists.
“We are doing everything right so far, so everyone should continue being more careful the disease is not gone.
Let’s continue to mask up, sanitise, and let’s go for our booster shots.
Those who have chronic diseases like BP, diabetes, HIV should continue taking their medication so that we don’t have problems,” he said.
The country’s Covid-19 co-ordinator Dr Agnes Mahomva last week said members of the public should continue being vigilant as there are chances that Covid-19 deaths may rise if complacency is allowed to get a foothold in communities.
She said vaccination was still relevant and the best protection that residents can consider to save themselves from succumbing to the deadly virus.
“The view that the fourth wave where the Omicron variant is dominating most of our cases and is not bad is not a true reflection of what is on the ground because indeed, we are seeing deaths.
Each time we record a death we are saddened and we just have to put out a message of warning.
“We cannot relax or be complacent and we want to continue pushing the message so that our communities remain vigilant,” said Dr Mahomva.
“It is not over until it is over, there is always a danger of a sudden upsurge in deaths and new cases hence let’s not tire doing what we know is right especially getting vaccinated, we know that it saves lives.”
4 167 808 people have received their first dose, 3 186 514 have received their second dose, while 13 352 have received the third dose, the booster shot, by last Sunday.
Online Reporter