Suspected coronavirus patient ‘escapes’ from Wilkins Hospital
By Nyashadzashe Ndoro
Zimbabwe’s under-fire government on Monday announced that a traveller from Dubai has tested negative for the dreaded coronavirus (COVID-19) disease at Wilkins Hospital while another one from Thailand has reportedly escaped from the hospital’s isolation center.
State media reported of the development and said health authorities were looking for the one who disappeared before tests could be conducted.
“A suspected coronavirus patient escapes from Wilkins Hospital isolation center. Health authorities are now looking for the Thai national who disappeared before tests could be conducted,” read a report by Star FM.
In the morning, the Information Ministry on twitter confirmed that the unnamed man suspected of having coronavirus who was at Masvingo Provincial Hospital on Sunday morning was now in self-quarantine after he tested negative.
“In Masvingo, a traveller from Dubai tested negative for Coronavirus. He is now in self-quarantine and being monitored,” read the message.
Zimbabwe is yet to experience a confirmed case of coronavirus.
On Monday afternoon, South Africa’s health ministry confirmed that four more people have tested positive for the coronavirus.
SA Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has confirmed that four more people who were part of the a group of 10 travellers who recently returned to South Africa from Italy while from the same group from which South Africa’s first three coronavirus patients came, have tested positive.
The infected included a couple in KwaZulu-Natal, a 45-year-old man in the area of Pietermaritzburg, and a 38-year-old man in Pietermaritzburg.
“At least we know the people involved.
“The people who are getting infected had been to countries other than China which means we need to be more vigilant,” Mkhize said.
Meanwhile, world cases of coronavirus have risen to 111, 827 and most of these are from China, with 3,893 deaths according to media reports. Nehanda Radio
