Coronavirus: Zimbabwe's positive cases reach 40

30 Avril 2020

Harare, Zimbabwe, April 30  (Infosplusgabon) - Zimbabwe added eight new COVID-19 (coronavirus) cases, on Wednesday, raising the total to 40, making it the single biggest daily jump since the virus started spreading in the southern African nation.

In a statement released on Thursday, Zimbabwe's Ministry of Health and Child Care reported a total of 7,642 screening and diagnostic tests were done by end of day Wednesday.

Zimbabwe now five recoveries and four deaths.

Speaking at State House in Harare while receiving donations from various organisations on Wednesday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa hinted at extending the lockdown past the 3 May deadline due to the increased spread of the coronavirus.

“...Balancing the need for economic growth and the lives of people as well as saving lives, I came to the conclusion that if people die, we cannot resuscitate them,” he said.

“The economy can die and it can be resuscitated now or in future. It doesn’t matter, because as long as people are alive you can have conferences and discuss ‘how do we resuscitate the economy’ but I have never seen a conference where people are discussing how to resuscitate the dead.”

He said the government’s bias has always been towards preservation of life, adding that the organisations that were at State House to donate had proved their understanding that the priority was to save lives.

The donations received included 103 tonnes of essential medicine worth US$400,000, part of the commitment of US$2 million by the Indian government.

The medicines include chloroquine and hydroxycholoroquine, which has been touted as a potential treatment for COVID-19 by United States President Donald Trump, against scientists' views who state that more tests are still needed on the drugs.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/RTF/GABON2020

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