By A Correspondent- Mpilo Central Hospital’s acting clinical director Professor Solwayo Ngwenya says that Zimbabwe does not have much resources at its disposal to mitigate the coronavirus.

He also said that there was an awareness challenge among health workers as it is difficult to educate all health workers at once.

Ngwenya said the key thing was not to put health facilities under strain so there was need to religiously follow lockdown measures.

Health experts have called on Government to tighten the coronavirus lockdown amid growing self-discipline by ordinary people.

Other health experts have warned of a continued surge in Covid-19 cases in the country during the coming weeks and called on government to introduce and equip new decentralised treatment centres around the country.

The country is experiencing a steep rise in daily new infections as well as deaths, with reports that major health institutions are no longer taking new Covid-19 patients due to shortage of bedding facilities.

Several patients have reportedly died at hospitals before being attended.

Cletos Masiya, spokesperson of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association (MDPPZA), said home-based care management was commonly becoming the desperate measure being taken by relatives who could just not let their beloved ones die while they watched.

Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights secretary Norman Matara said there were isolation beds available across the country in some less populated areas, but intensive care unit (ICU) beds were limited and most patients were failing to access them.

Zimbabwe Nurses Association President Enock Dongo said that the government could soon be overwhelmed by the rising coronavirus cases and without adequate resources, there could be an increase in the fatality rate.

Meanwhile, medical doctors have warned of a looming surge in COVID-19-related deaths in the coming days, saying the figures were likely to double this week as positive cases continue to rise against a drop in the recovery rate.

The health professionals told NewsDay that the new variant was more aggressive than the first strain of COVID-19 that hit the country last year and more people were likely to succumb to the disease given the country’s collapsed health care system.