By A Correspondent- Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nick Mangwana has rebuked opposition MDC leader Nelson Chamisa for rushing to announce two new cases of coronavirus in Harare before Health Ministry officials have done so.

Posting on Twitter on Saturday morning, Mangwana encouraged community leaders and ‘even political leaders’ to exercise self-restraint in making announcements on coronavirus. 

He wrote:

In times like this, let every community leader, every institution leader and even political leaders exercise self-restraint in making #Covid19 announcements so the Nation can be given accurate information by the Ministry of Health and Child Care. Let’s play our appreciable role by taking these measures.

Chamisa had earlier used the same microblogging platform to confirm two more cases of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe.

He said:

I have just been informed by City authorities that we have two new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Harare this morning.

Please take preventive measures and exercise extreme caution wherever you are. We must together ACT to stop the virus from spreading. Remember to always wash your hands.

Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health confirmed on Friday that a 38-year-old Caucasian male who had travelled to Britain earlier this month tested positive to COVID-19 on his return to Victoria Falls, to become the first officially recorded coronavirus case in the landlocked Southern African country