By A Correspondent| The Ministry of Health has officially confirmed that it issued a coronavirus positive patient with a certificate for a negative result.

They made the announcement soon after being grilled by journalists on Monday afternoon.

Their statement comes as an official at the Wilkins Infectious Diseases Hospital announced that another patient arrived from China while positive (tested in that country) and was upon arrival issued with a certificate for a negative results. (Video)

The two cases now throw into the open the fact that contrary to its claims that Zimbabwe has had ZERO COVID-19 records, the country has knowingly hosted at least one well known positive patient.

The statement reads in part:

The Ministry has received information on a traveller from the UK who was in Victoria Falls from the 7th — 10th March 2020. She was attended to b) a private practitioner in Hwange district on the 9th March 2020 with respiratory symptoms (cough, chest pain, difficulty in breathing) and was referred to Victoria Falls Hospital as a -suspected case” of COVID-19. However, upon assessment by the local Rapid Response Team on admission at Victoria Falls Hospital, she did not meet the WHO case definition of a suspected case and therefore was not tested. She was instead managed as a case of Pneumonia, recovered and departed for Kruger National Park in South Africa on the 10th March 2020 before proceeding back home to the UK. Upon return to the UK. a COVID-19 test was conducted. and she tested positive.

The Ministry through the Provincial Medical Directorate has followed up all her contacts, including the staff at the private clinic. hotel staff and staff at Victoria Falls Hospital to put them under self-quarantine and intensified surveillance. Samples for COVID-19 testing have been collected and the Ministry will report on the outcome of these results tomorrow.