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From George Maponga in Masvingo
Vice President Kembo Mohadi yesterday commended universities for continuing to take the lead in the fight against the coronavirus with some currently involved in research to find a vaccine for the novel virus using indigenous herbs.
“Our universities are also working on a possible cure for Covid-19 using (herbs from) our local shrubs and bushes, they are not there yet, but they are researching on it and we said we can’t be beaten by Madagascar,” he said after touring a project site for a state-of-the-art Intensive Care Unit being constructed by platinum miner Mimosa Mines at Masvingo Provincial Hospital.
Madagascar hogged the limelight after its President announced that the nation had successfully used a local herb as a vaccine for Covid-19.
The efficacy of the vaccine was never fully publicised, but the Indian Ocean island nation has managed to keep the number of infected people low. Before touring Masvingo General Hospital, VP Mohadi visited Gaths Mine Hospital in Mashava, which is the provincial isolation centre for Masvingo.
The isolation centre is run by the Great Zimbabwe University.
Vice President Mohadi said local universities deserved commendation for successfully implementing Education 5.0, which demands that institutions of higher learning be hotspots for solutions to nagging problems in the country.
“We roped in our universities to help in the fight against Covid-19 and they started by manufacturing face masks and were even joined by polytechnics. Then there was an issue of a very important machine in the fight against Covid-19 which as a country was hard to get because of meagre resources, the ventilator,” he said.
The VP President, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Task-force on Covid-19, urged Zimbabweans not to panic over rising cases of people infected with the virus, saying the Government remained on top of the situation as most of the positive cases were imported.
“Most of the people that have tested positive (Covid-19) are from quarantine centres, we don’t have many that are local. That is why I always emphasise the importance of tracing and keeping surveillance on people who would have come into contact with infected people,” he said.
“Otherwise we are on top of the situation and there is no need to panic at all, we have not yet gotten to a point where we can say things are out of control,” he said.
VP Mohadi said Zimbabwe had managed to contain Covid-19 even in the face of illegal sanctions spanning two decades.
He paid tribute to Zimbabweans for rising to the occasion in mobilising human and material resources to prepare the country for the pandemic and showing the world they can stand on their own.
“I was surprised by the amount of support, materially and financially that came from Zimbabweans to fight Covid-19 and I want to say again today that Zimbabwe you are on your own, we are on our own. Our doctors, yes they are justified to say they want a risk allowance to fight Covid-19 and it’s not only them, but all the frontline health workers.”
He was accompanied by Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando and Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs Ezra Chadzamira among other senior Government officials.
Online Reporter