Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
THE Matabeleland North Covid-19 Taskforce has identified Fatima High School in Lupane as an alternative quarantine centre to cater for spillovers from the existing facility in Victoria Falls.
Mosi-oa-Tunya High School in Victoria Falls which was first identified as the centre with a capacity of 100 people, has so far received 60 returnees and the taskforce fears it might fill up before the first group is released.
There were three people when the Victoria Falls centre was opened a fortnight ago.
Matabeleland North Provincial Social Welfare Officer Mr Macnon Chirinzepi said some returnees may be discharged earlier if cleared by the Ministry of Health and Child Care or may be moved to Fatima High School.
“The school received 11 more returnees on Monday to bring the number to 60 up from 49 over the weekend. Considering the capacity and the way people are flocking in, we met and came up with interim measures with the first one being an alternative centre at Fatima High to cater for spillovers. This will only happen if we reach our capacity before anyone is discharged,” he said.
“The other alternative is that we may consider releasing some before their mandatory period especially if health officials get enough equipment to test everyone and confirm they are negative so we create space. If we don’t get additional numbers we may wait for 5 May when the first group will be discharged using the mandatory 21 days.”
Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister Richard Moyo yesterday said they will be guided by the Ministry of Health and Child Care on the release of the returnees.
Fifty five of the returnees are adults while five are minors aged between 11 months and 16 years.
The majority returned from Botswana while others are from Zambia, Namibia, Cameroon and one from South Africa.
The one from South Africa is a Zimbabwean truck driver who was in transit to Zambia via Botswana with a colleague and was denied entry into Zambia.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Deputy Minister Lovemore Matuke visited the facility on Friday and said Government was considering reducing the mandatory number of days people are kept in quarantine centres, but they must be cleared by health officials first.
Deputy Minister Matuke commended the Victoria Falls Covid-19 Taskforce as the best model in the country in terms of preparedness saying the team had put in place some of the best facilities with resources mobilised from the community by the private sector.
The taskforce was recently allocated RTGS$1,7 million by Government to help in Covid-19 activities but the money is yet to be released to the committee, according to the Victoria Falls Taskforce chair Mr Brian Nyamande.
Mr Nyamande said while the taskforce had covered considerable ground, it still needs Government support for it to meet standards required for the resort town. — @ncubeleon
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