Nurse, 3 Patients Test Positive For Coronavirus At Mpilo Hospital
A nurse and three other people in Bulawayo have tested positive for COVID-19 at Mpilo Central Hospital. They are part of the 17 new cases recorded yesterday that brought the total number of known cases in Zimbabwe to 149.
The nurse is from Cowdray Park suburb while one of the three patients is a resident of Pumula suburb who went to Mpilo with flu and after testing, the results were COVID-19 positive.
Mpilo acting chief executive officer Dr Solwayo Ngwenya said that the nurse was sent home to self-isolate while the three others are admitted to the hospital since the city’s isolation centres, Ekusileni and Thorngrove, are under rehabilitation. He said:
At least four people tested positive for Covid-19 by PCR testing which is diagnostic and this caused a lot of fear amongst staff. However, we have managed to talk to health workers and emphasise the importance of our continued commitment in the fight against coronavirus.
At the moment there is one health worker that has been sent home and others are patients who had come to the hospital. One person had come in from the community and they had come with a minor illness and ended up testing positive.
Dr Ngwenya said it is difficult to trace everyone who had been in touch with the nurse and the three infected people.
It is possible that one positive case may represent more than 10 infections which are yet to be discovered, Dr Ngwenya added.