Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT has commended the media fraternity for its information dissemination role, which has assisted the country to effectively contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic resulting in fewer fatalities compared to developed countries. When Zimbabwe recorded its first Covid-19 case in March 2020, the media jumped into action to enhance citizens’ knowledge about the pandemic and informed decisions about mitigatory behavioural change approaches.
As of last Saturday, Zimbabwe had recorded 256 699 Covid-19 cases including 250 944 recoveries and 5 593 deaths with most of the deaths being recorded in 2021. But slowly, everything is getting back to normal as the country has reduced new infections and deaths with Government recently relaxing regulations for wearing of masks in public for those fully vaccinated.
While the Government is credited for implementing life saving measures, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the media should be commended for ensuring the message got to the people. Minister Mutsvangwa who was in Binga last Friday where she handed over set-top boxes to the Binga community to improve access to information in the area, said the media is sometimes forgotten yet it plays a critical role in advancing the development trajectory.
She said the country has emerged from the worrying Covid-19 situation partly due to effective information dissemination. “The media does a lot of work in disseminating information across the country. Following the outbreak of Covid-19, those who hated this country thought people were going to die in large numbers. President Mnangagwa however declared that Government would ensure not many lives are lost to the pandemic hence Government moved with speed to enforce mitigation measures to curb deaths,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
She said the media played one of the biggest roles in disseminating information on how members of the public should conduct themselves to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
Minister Mutsvangwa said the country has moved from the strict Covid-19 prevention measures as citizens complied with regulations announced by the Government and disseminated by the media. “It’s the media, which spread the message about wearing masks, washing hands and other precautionary measures. We are where we are today because of strictly adhering to preventive measures hence we are saying when we are outdoors there is no need to wear masks. We are however required to wear masks when we are indoors. This success is as a result of dissemination of information by journalists hence we need to recognise them,” she said.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child care show that the country recorded a significant drop in Covid-19 deaths this winter where just over 100 succumbed to the virus compared to 2 845 fatalities that were recorded in the same period last year at the height of the Delta variant, which killed more people compared to Beta and Omicron.
The decline in Covid-19 new infections and deaths has been attributed to the vaccination of more than six million people. Zimbabwe is one of the first African countries to reach the targeted 10 percent goal set by the World Health Organisation and the country is aiming at vaccinating at least 10 million citizens to achieve herd immunity.
The Government has since procured more than 20 million doses of vaccines to ensure that citizens have access to the lifesaving vaccines. So far more than six million citizens have received their first vaccination dose, four million second jab and over 900 000 have received the third booster shot. — @nqotshili
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