‘Deportee from UK tests positive for Covid-19 in quarantine, left unisolated’

A Zimbabwean who was deported last week from the United Kingdom (UK) together with 13 others has reportedly tested positive for Covid-19.

This was claimed by former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo who said one of the 14 deportees who are quarantined at the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management (ZIPAM) tested positive for coronavirus but nothing was done to separate the victim from others.

“A DEPORTEE from the UK quarantined at Zipam in Darwendale has tested positive for #COVID19 & fallen ill but has not been removed for treatment, putting at risk the other deportees. This after the UK official who escorted the deportees tested positive for #COVID19, back in London!” he said.

Against this background, it is however, noted that initially the UK plane was supposed to deport about 50 people but the Home Office was advised some of the returnees were self-isolating after an outbreak of Covid at Brook House near Gatwick, a detention centre.

The specific Zimbabwean nationals are being deported because they have been convicted of several crimes including murder, rape, robbery among others and they are deemed “Foreign Offenders” by the UK government.