Paul Nyathi|Zimbabwe on Thursday said it had recorded six more coronavirus cases, pushing the number of people that have tested positive to the flu-like disease to 40.
The six cases were recorded in the capital Harare, which had become the coronavirus or Covid-19 hotpot with 19 cases.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health and Child Care recorded two new cases in the second largest city of Bulawayo, which now has 12 cases.
Come Friday evening updates, the Ministry of Health and Child Care reduced the figure down to 34 after disputing the results of the six who tested positive in Harare.
All the six people in question are apparently health care workers at Parirenyatwa Hospital, three nurses, two doctors and a general hand.
A medical practitioner in Harare forewarned ZimEye.com on Friday afternoon that government was working at reducing the count.
Addressing the nation late Friday afternoon, before the Ministry of Health and Child Care produced its revised figures, President Emmerson Mnangagwa already said that Zimbabwe had 34 cases instead of 40 which was officially published.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care said it had carried out fresh tests on the six people that tested positive for coronavirus in Harare following an ‘unusual clustering’ of cases.
In an update of tests carried out on Thursday, which was delivered on Friday, the ministry said it was carrying out a quality assurance process.
“The ministry would like to report that following an unusual clustering of six cases that were reported as positive from Harare (on Wednesday), these results were, therefore, considered interim and hence additional tests have been conducted as part of the laboratory quality management system to validate these results in line with the laboratory standard operating procedures and protocols as well as international practices,” read part of the update.
Last week, the ministry had to revise the number of people that tested positive to the disease after a Bulawayo case was “counted twice” following a retest.
Besides the Ministry’s new figures, the world appears to have rejected the move as the official on the minute world count of Coronavirus Cases indicates that Zimbabwe still has forty cases as of Saturday morning. The global count further indicates Zimbabwe now has five recoveries while the Ministry of Health and Child Care reported four.
