Staff Writer
RETURNEES on Thursday pushed the number of Covid19 confirmed cases by 17 to a cumulative 149, indicating the highest jump since last week.
In a statement the Health Ministry said 17 more cases were added on to the existing figure with returnees contributing to the increase.
“Seventeen cases tested positive for Covid19 today. These are all returnees from Mozambique registering 9, South Africa 7 and United Kingdom 1.they are all in quarantine centers. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed Covid19 cases to 149 ,” the statement said.
The statistics show that Thursday, 2 005 RDT screening tests and 490 PCR diagnostic tests were done.
“The cumulative number of tests done to date is 40 847 (24 407 RDT and 16 440 PCR).To date the total number of confirmed cases is 149, recovered 28, active cases 117 and four deaths since the outbreak on March 20 2020,” the Health Ministry said.
Confirmed coronavirus cases accelerated to a shocking 132 with 76 new cases recorded in Beitbridge, Masvingo and Harare.
This was announced Wednesday by Information ministry permanent secretary Nick Mangwana.
The cases were 56 on Tuesday.
The steep climb in new cases comes just after the country opened its borders to citizens who were stranded in countries such as South Africa, Botswana and other destinations.
Medical experts have warned that the relaxed border management systems which have seen returnees using unofficial entry points could pose a high risk since they avoid mandatory quarantine.
Reports of some of the returnees escaping from the quarantine centers have also left many citizens worried over the risk of accelerated internal transmissions.
