Chronicle Editor
Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, Senior Health Reporter
Government is set to increase bed capacity at two central hospitals in the country to fight Covid-19, while civil servants will be tested every two weeks when they rotate for duty.
Virtual hospitals will be established in every district in the country to attend to cases and healthcare workers in red zones will get an allowance.
Mpilo Central Hospital and Sally Mugabe Hospital in Harare will have more beds as a measure to contain the surging cases and deaths in Zimbabwe.
The measure is part of the Ministry of Health and Child Care Covid-19 Third Wave Containment Plan.
Under the plan, Ekusileni Hospital and Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital have been designated as Covid-19 district hospitals for Bulawayo and Harare respectively.
As at 19 July 2021, Zimbabwe had 85 732 confirmed cases, including 55 714 recoveries and 2 697 deaths.
To date, a total of 1 184 435 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19.
There was a shocking seven-day surge in weekly cases from 8 013 during the week ending 13 July 2021, to 21 346 in week ending 20 July 2021.
The surge is mostly attributable to the general complacency in adhering to the set covid-19 preventive measures both in the communities and workplaces.
The Level 4 lockdown remains in force, and the following provinces have the most significant number of new cases: Mashonaland West 2 759; Harare Metropolitan 2 315; Mashonaland East 2 157; Manicaland 1 837 and Mashonaland Central 1 394.
Speaking during the post Cabinet briefing yesterday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa said the Government has also approved the decongesting of both public and private sector workplaces.
“Government is also pleased to announce that the Ministry of Health and Child Care has developed a Covid-19 Third Wave Containment Plan.
“Highlights include increasing the bed capacity at Mpilo and Sally Mugabe Central Hospitals. This plan will see the designation of Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital and Ekusileni Hospitals as Covid-19 District Hospitals for Harare and Bulawayo, respectively,” she said.
Government will also operationalise virtual hospitals where every district will have a rapid response team to attend to cases of acute Covid-19 clinical distress and a review of Covid-19 risk allowances.
“In light of the continued rise in Covid-19 cases, the Cabinet approved the decongesting of both public and private sector workplaces. In taking the lead, the Government has further reduced its workforce to 25 percent, on a two-week rotational interval. Priority will be given to the vaccinated personnel.
“Courts of Law will be opened only for remand and urgent cases. All civil servants should be vaccinated and those that fall ill without having been vaccinated will not be entitled to the Covid-19 insurance,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
“All civil servants should be tested for Covid-19 at the commencement and end of the two-week rotational interval. A locum-based Covid-19 risk allowance payment model will be adopted for the health personnel in the red zone as part of the incentive schemes.” -@thamamoe
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