Zaka – A Zaka woman who was rushed to Musiso Mission Hospital after a miscarriage yesterday, has tested positive to COVID -19 virus following tests done on Rapid Tests Kits (RBT), Masvingo Mirror reports.

Rapid Tests Kits results are not reliable and they are not depended upon at least for now.
The RBT results will only be confirmed after the second stage tests done on PCR or the Gold Standard Tests which is more reliable (70%) and only carried out in Harare.

The woman will only be conclusively identified as positive after the Harare tests.
The Mirror has it from impeccable sources that samples from the Zaka patient were sent to Harare yesterday and results are likely to be released at 9 pm today or early morning tomorrow.

If found positive, the woman will be the first COVID-19 case reported in Masvingo Province.

Rapid test kits have been distributed to many hospitals in the country over the last few days and they are now under use mainly for screening.

The RBT checks to see if a body is reacting to the presence of a virus. Its results are not accurate because the test may detect the body’s response to other viruses other than COVID-19.

However, the Gold Standard Test hunts for the actual COVID – 19 virus in the sample which makes it more reliable at 70%.
Efforts to get a comment from Masvingo Provincial Medical Director, Dr Amadeus Shamu were futile.

MasvingoMirror