adminPaidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter
THE 14-day extension of the lockdown by the Government provides a window of opportunity for the country to strengthen its capacities to respond to Covid-19, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
In an interview on steps taken by the Government so far in response to Covid 19, WHO country representative, Dr Alex Gasasira said every health institution must be capacitated to identify suspected cases, isolate, test and treat those found to be positive.
He said every institution must have the capacity to trace contacts of confirmed cases.
“So this capacity must be scaled up. Every individual, every family, every community has to have the right information for them to take the right action that will limit themselves from getting infected.
“These are the capacities that really need to be scaled up before the end of the lockdown as well as strengthening the capacity of the health system to manage, isolate and treat cases,” said Dr Gasasira.
He commended the Government for increasing the number of beds for Covid 19 patients, including those for patients that might need the services of the Intensive Care Unit.
Dr Gasasira said WHO was hopeful that a lot of these capacities will continue to be strengthened before restrictions imposed during the lockdown are removed.
“Before lifting the restrictions Zimbabwe must have capacity to rapidly identify cases, identify all contacts of this case, ensure that they are quarantined, tested and followed up. This capacity will ensure that any new case that comes in would not generate further cases and the index case will also be handled in a way that does not further spread the virus,” said Dr Gasasira. He said lifting of restrictions, however, did not mean the end of Covid 19 as it would continue to be a major public health threat until a vaccine or treatment is found.
He said even if Zimbabwe managed to keep transmission at levels low, without a vaccine, Covid 19 will remain a threat to public health.
“There will always be a risk of reintroduction of the virus from elsewhere so until we have a vaccine that can help people to become immune or until we have treatment that if somebody gets sick, he or she can get that treatment, Covid 19 will remain a threat to public health,” said Dr Gasasira.
Zimbabwe has managed to decentralise confirmatory Covid 19 testing from Harare to Bulawayo.
The Government has also introduced rapid testing across all provinces as a screening tool. Case definition of those eligible for testing has been broadened beyond the WHO definition to accommodate all those with flu-like symptoms.
Online Reporter