Own Correspondent|President Emmerson Mnangagwa has conspicuously opted to remain silent on the second Zimbabwe Coronavirus death.

Zimbabwe’s 11th confirmed Covid-19 case and second death is that of Bulawayo man (79), who died on Saturday after being initially admitted to hospital for pneumonia.

In a statement last night, the Ministry of Health and Child Care said the patient first saw his own doctor on March 23 with a sore throat and fever. When he did not improve on the oral antibiotics prescribed, he was hospitalised in Bulawayo last Thursday showing the symptoms of a cough, difficulty in breathing, sore throat and fever.

He had not travelled outside Zimbabwe, but had visited a tourist resort in Hwange from March 14 to 16.

He was admitted for clinical management of bacterial pneumonia. But his condition deteriorated on Thursday and he was moved into the intensive care unit and management in isolation under a specialist physician. The Bulawayo Covid-19 response team took samples and sent these to the national laboratory in Harare.

While awaiting the results, his medical team continued to treat him both for pneumonia and Covid-19, but his condition continued to deteriorate until he died, said the Ministry.

When Zimbabwe encountered its first death, that of journalist Zororo Makamba, Mnangagwa mourned in shock and immediately announced a raft of measures to contain the virus.

He ordered the closure of all borders to human traffic and banned non-essential travel except for the movement of cargo.

The Government also promulgated Statutory Instrument (SI) 77 of 2020 that provides for up to 12 months imprisonment for people who gather in crowds of more than 50 people, likely to promote the spread of Covid-19.

Makamba had been admitted to the hospital after testing positive for coronavirus as the country’s second patient.

“His passing on so suddenly has been unexpected as we had held high hopes also for his steady recovery following the good news about our first confirmed victim of the virus who has registered commendable recovery. Sadly, for Zororo, this was not to be as he had an underlying heart condition for which he had been receiving medical attention,” said President Mnangagwa.

“Zimbabwe has lost a promising young man from a crop of highly skilled and gifted youthful journalists striving to produce excellent local content and professionalism to broadcasting in this country.”

He extended his condolence message to the Makamba family.

“On behalf of Government, Zanu-PF, my family and on my own behalf, I wish to extend to the Makamba family, his relatives and friends, my heartfelt condolences on this their saddest loss which is our loss together,” he said.