Africa Press-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
In Chitungwiza, a town of half-a-million people south of Harare, several women are waiting at the water pump with large cans, concern etched on their faces, fearful of the growing threat of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can go for months without running water,\u201d said one woman, especially worried after the confirmation of the first two cases of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe, a country that is already teetering on the edge of an economic abyss.<\/p>\n
\u201cI doubt that we are prepared as a country to mitigate or to respond to this deadly coronavirus,\u201d said George Mangava, another local.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a Chitungwiza resident our main concern is running water,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The lack of water has multiple effects, primarily on diet and hygiene.<\/p>\n
Since the COVID-19 outbreak began in China at the end of last year the worldwide mantra has been to \u201cwash your hands\u201d thoroughly and often to avoid contracting or spreading the virus.<\/p>\n
But in Zimbabwe, a southern African country on its knees after two decades of economic misrule, basic infrastructures are failing and health services are all but extinct.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we go to the local clinic you hardly find the most basic drug Paracetamol,\u201d Mangava complained.<\/p>\n
His pessimism is shared by those at the top of the medical profession.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the system itself is overstretched and inadequate to deal with a coronavirus epidemic,\u201d warned Norman Matara, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights in January.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Zimbabwe announced its first COVID-19 case at Victoria Falls, a resort town. That was followed on Saturday by news of the first case in the capital Harare.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t know how we will survive if this disease attacks us if the shops and markets are closed,\u201d said Nettie Moyo, a Chitungwiza resident. \u201cLife is difficult these days. There\u2019s no money. How are we going to feed our children?\u201d<\/p>\n
That fear is shared by Moyo\u2019s fellow villagers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not prepared at all because we\u2019re not even aware of how the disease is spread,\u201d said her neighbour Muzvare Kawocha.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been no door-to-door information dissemination on the disease. Some of us have no televisions so we rely on hearsay for information about the disease.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nkululeko Sibanda, one of the spokesmen of the largest opposition the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), called for a lockdown to contain the spread, warning that if the virus reaches the country\u2019s crowded petrol and bus queues, \u201cwe will drop like flies\u201d.<\/p>\n
At Chitungwiza municipality, town clerk Tonderai Kasu, another doctor, insists that his teams have been busily educating the populace about the virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are doing surveillance and monitoring in the community and we are also doing awareness activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we get any suspected cases in Chitungwiza, the procedure is to have an ambulance ferry them to Wilkins Hospital in Harare,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
The problem with that plan is that there are only two ambulances at their disposal and they are both very old.<\/p>\n
To combat the spread of the virus, Zimbabwe president Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a state of emergency this week, announcing the closure of all schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith AIDS running at 14 percent and cases of malnutrition, we are very worried,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With the menace growing, he banned members of his government from travelling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will only go out when it is necessary, inevitable,\u201d said Mnangagwa.<\/p>\n
But the president appeared to be sending out mixed messages when several days later he flew to Namibia for Saturday\u2019s swearing-in ceremony of Namibian president Hage Geingob in Windhoek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Africa Press-Nigeria: In Chitungwiza, a town of half-a-million people south of Harare, several women are waiting at the water pump with large cans, concern etched on their faces, fearful of the growing threat of the coronavirus. \u201cWe can go for months without running water,\u201d said one woman, especially worried after the confirmation of the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":21015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1279],"class_list":{"0":"post-21013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-coronavirus-in-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\n