KWEKWE City Council has converted a local beerhall in Mbizo suburb into a coronavirus (Covid-19) screening centre as a measure to scale up preparedness in case the killer virus is recorded in the city.

Kwekwe mayor Angeline Kasipo, said the local authority does not have any infectious diseases control centre, hence the need to designate Garandichauya beerhall as a screening facility, adding that they used devolution funds to revamp the place.

“The amount budgeted for the revamping of the screening facility is $1,8 million which we got from devolution funds,” she said.

Acting town clerk Lucia Mkandla also added that upgrading Garandichauya beerhall into an infectious disease control centre was a necessity for Midlands as they had to be prepared for the outbreak.

“We do not have an infectious disease control hospital in Kwekwe and in the event of a disaster, we will find it difficult to control,” she said.

“We therefore had to commission the former Garandichauya beerhall into an infectious disease control facility,” she said.

While local authorities are trying to scale up preparedness and setting up quarantine centres, the two major screening centres are in Harare and Bulawayo.

Meanwhile, the City of Harare has started disinfecting crowded areas like public ranks which are Covid-19 hotspots.