Cov Info Hub

Covid-19 Update

*Zimbabwe misses Covid-19 Herd Immunity* - TheNewsHawks

"A research institution, the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute (ZDI), last week said attaining herd immunity remains a far-fetched dream."

“The government of Zimbabwe took seven months to vaccinate 38% of the targeted herd immunity population. It follows that the attainment of herd immunity now requires the government to vaccinate the remaining 68% in two months,” the ZDI said.

https://thenewshawks.com/zim-misses-covid-herd-immunity-target/

Zim misses Covid herd immunity target ZIMBABWE has missed the December target to vaccinate about 60% of the population to meet herd immunity, with only less than 25% having been jabbed so far, amid fears of a fourth wave. LIZWE SEBATHA Health experts said vaccine hesitancy slowed the vaccination drive. The government planned to achieve....

THE Government has directed restaurants
attached to hotels, backpackers' lodges and
guest houses to restrict provision of food and
drinks to room service while learning institutions
are prohibited from having face-to-face classes
as part of measures to contain the Covid-19
pandemic.

New Covid-19 regulations for hotels Zimbabwe's largest daily newspaper

Update

The Government of Zimbabwe has delayed the general school calendar until further notice.
Examination Classes exempt from this delay are however expected to strictly comply with preventive measures.
https://t.co/Kn8fbk7o7a

Booster shot now available for frontline workers, people with chronic diseases and the elderly.

Zimbabwe has officially reported the

A NUMBER of private boarding schools have closed down and sent students home after an alarming increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases at the learning institutions.
According to situational reports released by the Health and Child Care ministry, 399 new COVID-19 cases were recorded on Tuesday, with learning institutions accounting for 58 of the cases.
All the cases are local.

On Monday, 100 Masvingo Teachers’ College students tested positive to the virus.

Days before, 81 students and lecturers at the institution also tested positive.
The rise in confirmed cases has sent panic waves in schools amid an outbreak of a new Omicron COVID-19 variant detected in South Africa and Botswana.
Zimbabwe is yet to record a single case of the variant, but President Emmerson Mnangangwa re-imposed Level 2 lockdown measures on Tuesday to curb the spread of the virus.
According to memos from private schools that were sent to parents and seen by NewsDay, authorities said they were forced to close to control the spread of the virus.
“The letter serves to inform you that we have just received information that a member of our community has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus,” a memo from Heritage School dated November 30, 2021 signed by the school head teachers, F Manyanga , B Mate and C Mhike reads in part.
“It is, therefore, prudent that as a school, we take immediate action to control the situation by closing the school with immediate effect. It is unfortunate that we have had to take this action but we feel it is in the best interest of our community.
“Our Year 7 classes will continue with their Zimsec [Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council] examinations. They should be brought to school at 7:45am and they should be picked up soon after their examinations. Boarders may be collected from Acacia House starting on Wednesday December 1, 2021 from 8am. The end of year school reports will be sent via email.”
NewsDay saw more similar memos from three private boarding schools whose authenticity it could not confirm.
Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro said the ministry was aware that some private schools had closed due to COVID-19.
“Yes, we are aware that some private schools have taken steps to contain the spread of the pandemic, which include closing their schools, which is, however, not in line with the national policy on dealing with COVID-19 cases,” he said.
“The matter is under investigation and we are yet to get a full report. The schools should adhere to the COVID-19 protocols, which include quarantine and isolation, not shutting down schools. This term, we recorded over 4 000 cases within schools, but the pupils recovered even when we did not close the institutions. Private schools should adhere to the government-set calendar.”
At the height of the third wave of the pandemic, government shut down schools to curb the surge in COVID-19 cases within learning institutions across the country.
Government was also forced to cut the school calendar.
Meanwhile, government yesterday issued Statutory Instrument (SI) 267 of 2021, giving effect to controversial travel regulations for returning citizens and foreign visitors, including other lockdown measures announced by Mnangagwa.
As part of the new travel regulations, returning citizens and foreigners are supposed to undergo a PCR test and mandatory quarantine for 10 days at an institution chosen by government despite having a COVID-19 negative test.
The new travel regulations are seen as promoting border jumping.
“For the purposes of this paragraph, a returning resident or visitor found to be negative for COVID-19 may self-quarantine at any premises cleared for the purpose in advance by any enforcement officer acting on the instructions on the Ministry of Health,” the SI read in part
This is despite the fact that Zimbabwe has not recorded a single case of the new variant.
Cross-Borders Traders Association president Killer Zivhu questioned the reason for government to quarantine people with COVID-19 negative test results.
He said the measures would hit cross-border traders.
“In short, the government has decided to close its borders to foreigners in a diplomatic way,” Zivhu said.
“If the government trusts its laboratories and its health staff who do the COVID-19 testing, why then would they quarantine someone who has tested negative for more than 10 days.
“Cross-border traders were hoping that the festive season would open up businesses to improve their livelihoods, but their hopes have been shattered by the mandatory quarantine measure.”
Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said the new travel measures promoted border jumping.
“The position taken by the government to impose a mandatory quarantine on all the visitors, including Zimbabwean citizens whether vaccinated or not and whether COVID-19 positive or negative who are coming from outside the country, poses some serious logistical challenges to implement and enforce,” Rusike told NewsDay.
“Thousands of people are using the land borders and this may encourage some people to evade the official border entry points and use the undesignated entry points along our porous borders, thereby creating an even bigger public health threat of increased COVID-19 transmission.”
According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) travel guide issued on November 30 in the face of the new variant, any travel regulations should be based on science.
WHO said travel regulations should be put in place “following a thorough risk assessment process informed by the local epidemiology in departure and destination countries and by the health system and public health capacities in the countries of departure, transit and arrival.”

D-19 outbreak



Schools hit by COVID-19 outbreak



ByNewsday

-

3 hours ago

BY MIRIAM MANGWAYA
A NUMBER of private boarding schools have closed down and sent students home after an alarming increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases at the learning institutions.
According to situational reports released by the Health and Child Care ministry, 399 new COVID-19 cases were recorded on Tuesday, with learning institutions accounting for 58 of the cases.
All the cases are local.

Salary of a truck driver in Canada might surprise youSponsored | Truck Driver Jobs| Search Ads

Recommended by

On Monday, 100 Masvingo Teachers’ College students tested positive to the virus.

Days before, 81 students and lecturers at the institution also tested positive.
The rise in confirmed cases has sent panic waves in schools amid an outbreak of a new Omicron COVID-19 variant detected in South Africa and Botswana.
Zimbabwe is yet to record a single case of the variant, but President Emmerson Mnangangwa re-imposed Level 2 lockdown measures on Tuesday to curb the spread of the virus.
According to memos from private schools that were sent to parents and seen by NewsDay, authorities said they were forced to close to control the spread of the virus.
“The letter serves to inform you that we have just received information that a member of our community has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus,” a memo from Heritage School dated November 30, 2021 signed by the school head teachers, F Manyanga , B Mate and C Mhike reads in part.
“It is, therefore, prudent that as a school, we take immediate action to control the situation by closing the school with immediate effect. It is unfortunate that we have had to take this action but we feel it is in the best interest of our community.
“Our Year 7 classes will continue with their Zimsec [Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council] examinations. They should be brought to school at 7:45am and they should be picked up soon after their examinations. Boarders may be collected from Acacia House starting on Wednesday December 1, 2021 from 8am. The end of year school reports will be sent via email.”
NewsDay saw more similar memos from three private boarding schools whose authenticity it could not confirm.
Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro said the ministry was aware that some private schools had closed due to COVID-19.
“Yes, we are aware that some private schools have taken steps to contain the spread of the pandemic, which include closing their schools, which is, however, not in line with the national policy on dealing with COVID-19 cases,” he said.
“The matter is under investigation and we are yet to get a full report. The schools should adhere to the COVID-19 protocols, which include quarantine and isolation, not shutting down schools. This term, we recorded over 4 000 cases within schools, but the pupils recovered even when we did not close the institutions. Private schools should adhere to the government-set calendar.”
At the height of the third wave of the pandemic, government shut down schools to curb the surge in COVID-19 cases within learning institutions across the country.
Government was also forced to cut the school calendar.
Meanwhile, government yesterday issued Statutory Instrument (SI) 267 of 2021, giving effect to controversial travel regulations for returning citizens and foreign visitors, including other lockdown measures announced by Mnangagwa.
As part of the new travel regulations, returning citizens and foreigners are supposed to undergo a PCR test and mandatory quarantine for 10 days at an institution chosen by government despite having a COVID-19 negative test.
The new travel regulations are seen as promoting border jumping.
“For the purposes of this paragraph, a returning resident or visitor found to be negative for COVID-19 may self-quarantine at any premises cleared for the purpose in advance by any enforcement officer acting on the instructions on the Ministry of Health,” the SI read in part
This is despite the fact that Zimbabwe has not recorded a single case of the new variant.
Cross-Borders Traders Association president Killer Zivhu questioned the reason for government to quarantine people with COVID-19 negative test results.
He said the measures would hit cross-border traders.
“In short, the government has decided to close its borders to foreigners in a diplomatic way,” Zivhu said.
“If the government trusts its laboratories and its health staff who do the COVID-19 testing, why then would they quarantine someone who has tested negative for more than 10 days.
“Cross-border traders were hoping that the festive season would open up businesses to improve their livelihoods, but their hopes have been shattered by the mandatory quarantine measure.”
Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said the new travel measures promoted border jumping.
“The position taken by the government to impose a mandatory quarantine on all the visitors, including Zimbabwean citizens whether vaccinated or not and whether COVID-19 positive or negative who are coming from outside the country, poses some serious logistical challenges to implement and enforce,” Rusike told NewsDay.
“Thousands of people are using the land borders and this may encourage some people to evade the official border entry points and use the undesignated entry points along our porous borders, thereby creating an even bigger public health threat of increased COVID-19 transmission.”
According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) travel guide issued on November 30 in the face of the new variant, any travel regulations should be based on science.
WHO said travel regulations should be put in place “following a thorough risk assessment process informed by the local epidemiology in departure and destination countries and by the health system and public health capacities in the countries of departure, transit and arrival.”

D-19 outbreak
A NUMBER of private boarding schools have closed down and sent students home after an alarming increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases at the learning institutions.

According to situational reports released by the Health and Child Care ministry, 399 new COVID-19 cases were recorded on Tuesday, with learning institutions accounting for 58 of the cases.

All the cases are local.

On Monday, 100 Masvingo Teachers’ College students tested positive to the virus.

Days before, 81 students and lecturers at the institution also tested positive.

The rise in confirmed cases has sent panic waves in schools amid an outbreak of a new Omicron COVID-19 variant detected in South Africa and Botswana.

Zimbabwe is yet to record a single case of the variant, but President Emmerson Mnangangwa re-imposed Level 2 lockdown measures on Tuesday to curb the spread of the virus.

According to memos from private schools that were sent to parents and seen by NewsDay, authorities said they were forced to close to control the spread of the virus.

“The letter serves to inform you that we have just received information that a member of our community has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus,” a memo from Heritage School dated November 30, 2021 signed by the school head teachers, F Manyanga , B Mate and C Mhike reads in part.

“It is, therefore, prudent that as a school, we take immediate action to control the situation by closing the school with immediate effect. It is unfortunate that we have had to take this action but we feel it is in the best interest of our community.

“Our Year 7 classes will continue with their Zimsec [Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council] examinations. They should be brought to school at 7:45am and they should be picked up soon after their examinations. Boarders may be collected from Acacia House starting on Wednesday December 1, 2021 from 8am. The end of year school reports will be sent via email.”

NewsDay saw more similar memos from three private boarding schools whose authenticity it could not confirm.

Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro said the ministry was aware that some private schools had closed due to COVID-19.

“Yes, we are aware that some private schools have taken steps to contain the spread of the pandemic, which include closing their schools, which is, however, not in line with the national policy on dealing with COVID-19 cases,” he said.

“The matter is under investigation and we are yet to get a full report. The schools should adhere to the COVID-19 protocols, which include quarantine and isolation, not shutting down schools. This term, we recorded over 4 000 cases within schools, but the pupils recovered even when we did not close the institutions. Private schools should adhere to the government-set calendar.”

At the height of the third wave of the pandemic, government shut down schools to curb the surge in COVID-19 cases within learning institutions across the country.
Government was also forced to cut the school calendar.

Meanwhile, government yesterday issued Statutory Instrument (SI) 267 of 2021, giving effect to controversial travel regulations for returning citizens and foreign visitors, including other lockdown measures announced by Mnangagwa.

As part of the new travel regulations, returning citizens and foreigners are supposed to undergo a PCR test and mandatory quarantine for 10 days at an institution chosen by government despite having a COVID-19 negative test.

The new travel regulations are seen as promoting border jumping.

“For the purposes of this paragraph, a returning resident or visitor found to be negative for COVID-19 may self-quarantine at any premises cleared for the purpose in advance by any enforcement officer acting on the instructions on the Ministry of Health,” the SI read in part
This is despite the fact that Zimbabwe has not recorded a single case of the new variant.
Cross-Borders Traders Association president Killer Zivhu questioned the reason for government to quarantine people with COVID-19 negative test results.

He said the measures would hit cross-border traders.

“In short, the government has decided to close its borders to foreigners in a diplomatic way,” Zivhu said.

“If the government trusts its laboratories and its health staff who do the COVID-19 testing, why then would they quarantine someone who has tested negative for more than 10 days.
“Cross-border traders were hoping that the festive season would open up businesses to improve their livelihoods, but their hopes have been shattered by the mandatory quarantine measure.”

Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said the new travel measures promoted border jumping.

“The position taken by the government to impose a mandatory quarantine on all the visitors, including Zimbabwean citizens whether vaccinated or not and whether COVID-19 positive or negative who are coming from outside the country, poses some serious logistical challenges to implement and enforce,” Rusike told NewsDay.

“Thousands of people are using the land borders and this may encourage some people to evade the official border entry points and use the undesignated entry points along our porous borders, thereby creating an even bigger public health threat of increased COVID-19 transmission.”

According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) travel guide issued on November 30 in the face of the new variant, any travel regulations should be based on science.

WHO said travel regulations should be put in place “following a thorough risk assessment process informed by the local epidemiology in departure and destination countries and by the health system and public health capacities in the countries of departure, transit and arrival.”

Source:

TOP TIP

There's a new variant circulating. Here's what you can do to stay safe

As the world waits to learn more about the Omicron variant, it's easy to get caught up in the unknowns. Instead, health officials are reminding us of the simple yet effective tools we all have to combat the virus.

Here's what you can do to stay safe:

Get vaccinated

Getting vaccinated is one of the best ways to protect yourself and those around you. Vaccines are readily available across the US and many Americans are now eligible for a booster shot.

"Get your vaccine, get your booster," Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNN. "It's the best chance we've got to drive this Covid-19 pandemic away."

Vaccines have proven to be safe and effective at reducing severe Covid-19 cases.

Wear a mask properly

It's simple, but wearing a mask properly is one of the most important ways you can protect yourself and those around you, health experts say.

N95 masks offer the best protection. Washable, breathable cloth masks will do the job, but they should have at least two layers -- three are better -- and you can add a filter for more protection.

Masks should cover both your nose and mouth, and should fit snugly, with no gaps.

Goggles or face shields aren't necessarily recommended for eye protection if you are not a health care worker or are in high-risk situations, health experts have said.

Not sure how to choose a mask? Check out these guidelines.

Check for symptoms and get tested

Fever, coughing and shortness of breath are among the most common symptoms of Covid-19, the disease the coronavirus causes.

But there's also diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, loss of smell and taste, body aches, mental confusion and even delirium.

Have a runny or stuffed-up nose? Unless you have a fever, it's probably just allergies, such as can be caused by leaf mold at this time of year.

If you have been exposed to the coronavirus, symptoms will probably show up within a week, health experts say. That is, if you are going to have them at all -- which some people don't. Any or all symptoms can appear between two and 14 days after exposure to the virus, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If you suspect you have been infected, go to a testing center near you. Contact your local or state health department to find out where to get a test.

Serious symptoms include difficulty breathing, persistent pain or pressure in your chest, new confusion, the inability to stay awake or wake up and bluish face or lips, according to the CDC.

Wash your hands

Washing your hands frequently is still one of the most basic and simple things you can do.

Work up a good lather and scrub your hands, fingers and under your nails for at least 20 seconds. Use clean, running water to thoroughly rinse, then scrub them dry.

Washing for at least 20 seconds has been shown to remove more microbes than washing for shorter periods. Singing "Happy Birthday" twice while washing can work as a "timer."

Frequent handwashing will also protect you from all sorts of harmful bacteria and viruses other than the new coronavirus, including influenza and the common cold.

Use hand sanitizer

It's not as good as washing your hands with good old soap, but hand sanitizer can be used when soap isn't an option.

It's important both of your hands are covered completely, including between the fingers and under the nails. Rub your hands until they are dry. Use it generously if your hands are greasy or really dirty, since the sanitizer might not be as effective in that case, according to the CDC.

Unlike in the beginning of the pandemic, hand sanitizer is relatively easy to find in stores, so don't try to make your own. Health experts say it's critical you get the right concentration of alcohol to disable the virus.

Check out this list of more than 100 dangerous hand sanitizers to avoid. Some contain methanol, which can be lethal. Others don't have enough alcohol.

Reduce your risk

The best thing you can do is stay home, if possible, and reduce your risk by cutting down on errands and trips to the store.

Not everyone has the luxury of doing it, of course, but social distancing -- keeping 6 feet between you and others outside your household -- and wearing a mask are critical.

The safest place outside your home is the outdoors. But even there, you should keep a safe distance from people you don't live with.

You can also reduce risk by getting take out food instead of dining in restaurants and avoiding public transportation, if possible.

Source:

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED.

Q: What raised alarms for scientists about Omicron, compared to other variants?

A: In the case of Omicron, what initially raised alarms for doctors and scientists in South Africa was the rapid rate of spread of this new variant, according to CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen.

"It appears to be outcompeting Delta in speed, but whether it will force out Delta and become dominant remains to be seen," she said.

"In addition, the large number of this variant's mutations -- over 50 in all -- raises the question of immune escape, both to vaccines and treatments like monoclonal antibodies. These are types of information that we will need to obtain through further scientific studies," she added.

Source:

(CNN)When South African officials sounded the alarm on the new Omicron variant last Thursday, stocks around the world tumbled and up to 70 countries, including the United States, imposed travel bans and restrictions to southern African countries.

The knee-jerk response followed the news that the variant had an unusually high number of mutations, which scientists feared could make it more transmissible and result in immune evasion.

Much is still unknown about Omicron, including its origin, severity and its transmissibility. Researchers are also racing to discover if it could displace existing variants and become dominant, as Delta has.

Early "indications" show that people who have received the coronavirus vaccine booster are "protected" against the new variant, Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said Tuesday.

This comes after anecdotal reports from South Africa suggested that most cases of the Omicron variant have been mild so far. But those South African cases were "mostly [among] young people anyway. So, I would say we just don't know [if the new variant causes more serious illness than previous strains]," Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told CNN on Sunday.

Scientists say it will take weeks to unearth how dangerous the new variant is. But we do know that Omicron has been found in Europe, with cases of community transmission identified in earlier Covid-19 samples before the travel bans came into place.

Dutch health officials said Tuesday that Omicron was present in the Netherlands a week before two flights arrived from South Africa carrying the virus. At least one of the cases is thought to have been contracted in the Netherlands, RIVM virologist Chantal Reusken told national broadcaster NOS.

Nine cases of Omicron were linked to a private event on November 20 in Scotland, days before South Africa announced the existence of the variant. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Scottish Parliament Tuesday that none of the individuals had a recent travel history or known links to others who had traveled from southern Africa.

These cases have prompted some to question the need for the cascading travel restrictions, which has triggered a wave of resentment on the African continent. Many view the bans as another example of Africans bearing the brunt of hasty pandemic policymaking, which has seen rich countries hoarding vaccine doses and resources to the detriment of poorer nations.

"Excellent science should be applauded and not punished," South Africa's Foreign Ministry said Saturday, adding that the restrictions were "akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker."

"Putting in place travel bans that target Africa attacks global solidarity," the World Health Organization's (WHO) Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said the following day. "Covid-19 constantly exploits our divisions. We will only get the better of the virus if we work together for solutions."

Source:

Zimbabwe yazivisa matanho matsva ekudzivirira Covd-19

Munyori weKwayedza

Mutungamiri wenyika President Mnangagwa manheru ano vazivisa nezvematanho matsva ekudzivirira kutapurirana nekupararira kwechirwere cheCovid-19.
Matanho aya anofambirana nezvinokurudzirwa nesangano rezveutano pasi rose reWorld Health Organisation (WHO) uye anouya apo kwanyuka imwezve mhando yeCovid-19 inozivikanwa nekuti Omicron Covid Variant.
Mando iyi yatove kunyika dzine chitsama kusanganisira South Africa nekuBotswana.
President Mnangagwa vanozivisa matanho anotevera: Nguva dzisingatenderwe vanhu kufamba (curfew) kubva na9 dzemanheru kusvika na6 dzemangwanani. Vanoita mabasa akakosha bedzi ndivo vanotenderwa kufamba nguva idzi. Vanhu vanopinda muZimbabwe vachibva kunze vachavhenekwa Covid-19 vose uye vachambogariswa munzvimbo dzavo voga (quarantine centres) vachizvibhadharira mari dzinodiwa uye kuchitevedzwa zvinodiwa neWHO. Zvitoro zvava kuvhura na7 dzemangwanani zvichivhara na7 dzemanheru Kuungana hakuzi kukurudzirwa uye kana vanhu vakaungana, vanofanirwa kunge vakapfeka mamasiki nemazvo, vasiri chitsokotsoko uye vachigeza mawoko nesanitiser. Ndufu dzeCovid-19 dzichatungamirirwa nevanoona zveutano Doro haritenderwe kunwirwa pabhawa Mabhawa achatenderwa vanhu vakadzivirirwa Covid-19 bedzi. Nzvimbo dzekudyira (restuarants) dzichavhara na7 dzemanheru. Matanho aya achazotariswazve kwapera masvondo maviri.

COVID-19: New regulations announced President Mnangagwa has announced new Covid-19 measures aimed at strengthening the national response to the pandemic in light of the threat posed by the new Omicron variant detected in neighbouring countries.

State Of The Nation Address by President Emmerson Mnangagwa

-Curfew from 9pm to 6am,essential services exempted as announced in previous gazettes
-Restaurants to close at 1900hrs
-Shops open from 0700hrs to 1900hrs
-No liquor will be consumed at bottle stores
-Night clubs & Bars to admit vaccinated people
-COVID-19 funerals to be supervised by
-All travelers to Zimbabwe will now have a Covid19 PCR Test at all ports of entry at their cost. All travelers and returning residents will now have a mandatory quarantine at their own cost.
- Government of Zimbabwe will review the measures after 14 days.

Source: ZBC News Online