A new wave of Covid-19 infections has emerged in schools affecting learners and teachers with unions calling for the closure of learning institutions as they are ill-prepared to handle the pandemic.
The government has insisted that the number of Covid-19 positive cases detected is insignificant out of a total school enrolment of 4.6 million.
Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa told journalists at a post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday that all cases are being well-managed in line with the Standard Guidelines for the Coordinated Prevention and Management of Covid-19 at all learning institutions in Zimbabwe.
She said most cases among learners are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms adding that learners who are isolated will be provided with alternative learning platforms.
The new cases show that Covid-19 remains a threat and preventive measures have to be taken at all times.
This brings to the issue of vaccination; the number of those seeking the first dose has been below 20,000 especially in the last week following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions. It is as if the pandemic has been defeated.
This lethargy comes as Zimbabwe is looking up to vaccination to help reopen the economy. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said yesterday that Zimbabwe’s medium to long term economic recovery strategy is the vaccination programme.
Ncube said the government is utilising a budget surplus of US$100m in the previous year to procure vaccines to save lives and livelihoods.
So far, over US$127.3m has been spent on procurement of 12.5m vaccines and 15m syringes from various countries, Ncube said.
He said the government will continue to mobilise additional resources to ensure the target population is fully vaccinated.
The government has taken a bold step in ramping up vaccination by directing its employees to be vaccinated by October 15.
Unvaccinated civil servants will not be allowed to access their workplace after October 15 and failure to be vaccinated becomes a disciplinary issue.
Such a bold move has seen the private sector joining in: telling its employees to be vaccinated or come to work with PCR tests, a non-starter due to the costs involved. The massive vaccination campaign is laudable if Zimbabwe is to attain herd immunity. A number of countries have opened up after vaccination half of its population.
As of Monday, Zimbabwe, alongside South Africa and Botswana had vaccinated 13% of its population, trailing Seychelles (72%), Mauritius (55%), Morocco (45%), Tunisia (26%), Cabo Verde (19%), Comoros (18%), and Eswatini (16%).
It’s not that the vaccine is not available in Zimbabwe. The doses have been procured but there are few takers. Ncube said Zimbabwe had procured 12.5m doses and 15m syringes. Experts have warned of another wave and vaccination is seen as key in fighting the pandemic. The previous waves were devastating and no one would want to be caught unawares by the Covid-19 storm.
