THE Beautiful Bulawayo Trust, a committee formed to spearhead the fight against coronavirus (Covid-19) in the city has been given one week to set up a testing and isolation centre after it emerged yesterday that Bulawayo has no such facility.

Thorngrove Infectious Disease Hospital which had been earmarked to cater for Covid-19 cases in the city is still undergoing renovations and in the event of a reported case in the city, the patient has to be transferred to Harare for isolation.

The revelations were made by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Cde July Moyo at a Press conference after a meeting between a delegation from the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Covid-19 and members of the Trust last night.

The Trust is made up of various people from Bulawayo, ranging from academics to industrialists, who have come together to raise funds to help establish Ekusileni Medical Centre as a national Covid-19 isolation centre. Cde Moyo said the Trust has handed over a working document to the Ministerial Taskforce, which would be presented to President Mnangagwa.

“We will hand over this document to the President for deliberation but noting the situation which we are in at the moment, we have given the Trust a week to become operational of which they have assured us that they will be in a position to admit their first patient, if any, in the next week.

-State Media