By Wilbert Mukori- “As at 3/9/2020 Zimbabwe has 40 new cases total 6 678 no new deaths total 206.
Carried out 1095 PCR test, Bulawayo 76, Harare 925 and Manicaland 94 and zero everywhere else.
There are a total of 1209 active cases with Bulawayo 95, Harare 483, Manicaland 54, etc.”
It is interesting to note in the last few weeks government has ramped up tests at Zanu PF HQ (26 tested positive), Munhumutapa Building (80 tested positive) Parliament (2 workers and unknown number of MPs tested positive). None of these areas can ever be considered frontline and high risk area on par with hospitals and clinics and yet workers in these areas are being tested ahead of health care workers!
What is clear here is that the ruling elite clearly believe in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) clarion call to “Test! TEST!! TEST!!!!” as the most effective way of containing the corona virus. Those who have the virus and immediately send into isolation and follow up test are done on all those who came into conduct with the infected person.
The targeting of work places where the ruling elite work shows Zanu PF believes in WHO’s advice as an effective means to contain the corona virus but only when the lives of the ruling elite are at risk!
Zimbabwe’s confirmed corona virus cases and deaths should roughly be 1/4 those of SA but have remained low only because we are not testing as aggressively as our neighbour across the Limpopo River!
| South Africa | Zimbabwe | Comment | |
| Population | 60 million | 16 million | approx 1/4 that of SA |
| Covid-19 cases | 628 259 | 6 678 | 1/4 of SA = 157 000 or 150 000 who should be in isolation are not |
| Covid-19 deaths | 14 263 | 206 | 1/4 of SA = 3 500 or 3 300 buried without following WHO protocol |
| Covid-19 tests end July | 3 million | 145 000 | 1/4 of SA = 750 000 or 20% |
By carrying out only 20% of the tests we should have done it means we have missed out identifying 150 000 potential covid-19 cases who would be in isolation and are instead spreading the virus. And by failing to test and confirming all these who have died and had corona virus symptoms it is possible 3 300 bodies were buried without following the WHO protocol to ensure the virus does not spread to the living.
The failure to test as aggressively as we should alone will result in hundreds of thousands of more people being infect with corona virus and many of them will die.
Zimbabwe’s very low official covid-19 figures give the impression Zimbabwe has contain the corona virus pandemic. No one of substance is fooled by these figures because they know they would be much higher if the country was testing as it should!
Frankly, the nation would be better off having high official figures because we were testing and saving lives than low official figures and condemning so many innocent people to suffer and many to die unnecessarily!