By Vusumuzi Dube
A total of 380 contacts linked to people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Bulawayo have been traced and the necessary testing and follow-ups done on them according to the World Health Organisation’s guidelines.
The city has recorded 12 confirmed cases, while the country had a total of 34 positive cases as at Friday and four deaths. In his weekly update, the city’s Mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni said 101 residents at Qalisa Retirement Village had all tested negative for the pandemic.
“A total of 380 contacts of all the positive cases have since been identified, classified and followed up. As it stands at least 11 cases are due to active local transmission. Efforts to prudently implement effective outbreak containment measures are ongoing.
“The city has also conducted testing of at least 101 residents of the gated community and all the RT-PCR and RDT tested negative for the pandemic. In Event Based Surveillance the seven Rapid Response Teams activated on 27 February 2020 have been following up rumours of possible suspected cases of Covid-19 since then,” said Clr Mguni.
He said teams have followed up 223 cases consisting of people complaining of Covid-19 related epidemiological link, signs and symptoms; and have submitted 661 specimens of people that fit the case definition to laboratories for testing.
The mayor said council teams were being supported by members of the World Health Organisation, the Zimbabwe National Army and members of the Air Force of Zimbabwe will soon be joining them.
“The number of travellers that came in through the various ports of entry destined for Bulawayo was 1 774. Of these at least 1 693 (95,4 percent) travellers had since been followed up by teams in Bulawayo. Follow up of the other travellers is in progress.
“The area with the highest number of travellers under surveillance is Suburbs. The updated lists of travellers that came into the country during the month of April was from official Ports of Entry keeps being received and follow ups are ongoing,” said Clr Mguni.
He said council teams were checking if sanitisers or hand washing facilities are available at entry points of all shops in the city to help curb the spread of the virus.
“The shops have generally been compliant with the recommendations to combat the disease. Challenges are faced in supermarkets with mealie-meal which attract large numbers of customers resulting in chaos and failure to observe social distancing.
“The banks and money agents also attract large numbers of people which has resulted in some teams being posted to man those sites all day,” said Clr Mguni.
The mayor also paid gratitude to various stakeholders who are working with the council in the fight against the pandemic saying the local authority appreciates the donations, partnerships and great ideas that they continue to receive. Sunday News
