The Masvingo provincial Covid-19 taskforce is happy with progress made in the rehabilitation and equipping of isolation centres to prepare the province for any outbreak with three of the eight planned district centres now ready for use.

Masvingo has isolation centres in each of its seven administrative districts and the main provincial isolation centres housed at Gaths Mine Hospital in Mashava and Masvingo Provincial Hospital, which backs up a clinic in the city for the district.

Gaths Mine is the province’s biggest isolation centre with capacity of more than 300 beds and is fitted with intensive care unit (ICU) facilities while at Masvingo General Hospital, a compartment within the health facility was turned into an isolation facility with ICU services.

Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs Cde Ezra Chadzamira, who chairs the taskforce, on Monday expressed satisfaction with progress in readying for any Covid-19 outbreak.

Work was progressing well in equipping and face-lifting isolation centres after Government received a shot in the arm from big firms such as Lowveld sugar producer Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe and platinum miner Mimosa chipping in with $12 million and US$40 000 respectively for the task.

“We are very happy with progress in equipping and upgrading all our isolation facilities across the province so that they are able to handle any Covid-19 case that might occur,” he said.

“Work is progressing at some of the centres including the main isolation centre at Gaths Mine in Mashava, but very soon everything will be 100 percent. At the moment there are three centres — Rujeko (Masvingo District), Chiredzi District Hospital and Gutu Rural Hospital — that are now 100 percent ready and we are quite hopeful that very soon the remaining ones will come on board as work is progressing very smoothly,” said Minister Chadzamira.

He paid tribute to individuals and organisations that continue providing both material and financial resources for upgrading these isolation centres.

Masvingo has remained on top of the Covid-19 scourge with the province still to record its first positive case of the disease since its outbreak globally.

Minister Chadzamira and his taskforce are working round the clock to make sure all isolation centres have ICU facilities to be ready for any outbreak and be able to treat patients who need hospital care close to their homes.

Deputy national Covid-19 taskforce chair and Cabinet Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri recently toured the province’s isolation facilities and implored authorities to improve the state of ICU facilities, but expressed general satisfaction with province’s state of preparedness.