…only two active cases remain in Masvingo
Moses Ziyambi
Only two of Masvingo province’s
53 confirmed cases of coronavirus are still active, after most of them were
certified fully-recovered mostly in terms of the World Health Organisation
(WHO) new guidelines on determining recovery.
On July 08, the province set on
34 active cases, only for the number to drop to two the following day after
government published the cumulative national recovery tally which stood at 306.
The previous day, the national
recovery tally had been recorded at 206.
Other provinces with relatively low active
and high recovery cases as on July 10 are Mashonaland Central (4 recovered and
6 active) Matabeleland North ((13 recovered and 10 active) and Manicaland (13
recovered and 17 active).
Harare remains the epicenter of the
virus with 206 active cases against 76 recoveries followed by Bulawayo with 125
active cases and 25 recoveries.
According to the new WHO
guidelines which were adopted by cabinet this week, those with symptoms will
spend a minimum of 13 days in isolation while those with no symptoms spend a minimum
of 10 days instead of the 21 days following two consecutive negatives PCR
results that are 24 hours apart.
Symptomatic patients are
discharged after a minimum of 13 days which include a minimum of 10 days after the
onset of such symptoms as fever and respiratory symptoms, and an additional
three days without symptoms.
For those without symptoms can be
discharged 10 days after testing positive.
In other words, patients who show
no symptoms 10 days from the day when the symptoms first show, plus at least
three additional days without symptoms including fever and respiratory
troubles, should be considered as having recovered.
For asymptomatic cases, that is
patients who test positive but show no symptoms, recovery is confirmed 10 days
after the initial positive test for Covid-19.
Zimbabwe had been following an
earlier WHO recommendation to confirm clearance of the virus, which saw people
being forced to self-isolate for an average 21 days. This required a patient to
be clinically recovered, that is show no symptoms, and to have two negative
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results on samples taken at least 24 hours apart.
