By A Correspondent- Infectious Diseases Hospital, the city’s main isolation centre, still has no Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and a ventilator, critical in the fight against coronavirus (Covid-19), Mayor Solomon Mguni has said.

In a weekly update outlining the activities the City of Bulawayo is undertaking to tackle Covid-19, Mguni said Bulawayo continued to face a number of resource gaps, a development that negatively affects efficient response to the pandemic.

“While Thorngrove Hospital at present can admit anything from asymptomatic to mild cases, it does not have ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) facilities nor a ventilator. It also has no accommodation for isolating staff that may be exposed,” Mguni said.

He also said the hospital was in need of more oxygen canisters, flow metres, delivers tubes and masks or nasal prongs and highlighted that the rapid response teams also have inadequate fuel and airtime for surveillance.

Mguni said the city has inadequate human resources should cases of Covid-19 increase.

To date, Bulawayo has recorded 12 confirmed cases of the respiratory disease and one death. Nationally, the country has recorded 34 cases, including four deaths and five recoveries.-DailyNews