Returnees Could Be Contracting Coronavirus In Quarantine Centres

Concern has been raised over the delayed testing of returnees in quarantine centres, with over half of Zimbabwe’s COVID-19 positive cases among them.

The Zimbabwe Association for Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) believes that the delay in testing the returnees could be driving the increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases. ZADHR said:

The ZADHR is worried about delayed testing of returnees on arrival at quarantine facilities. We have received reports that at the Girls High quarantine centre where a group of 96 returnees including pregnant women and an infant, who were first quarantined at Harare Polytechnic College, on the 10th of May 2020 were not tested despite that some individuals clearly exhibiting flu-like symptoms.

The returnees were finally tested on the 24th of May 2020 and most of them were not exhibiting signs or symptoms of illness. Results returned four days later on 28 May 2020 and at least 35 of the returnees had tested positive to Covid-19 and were taken to Wilkins Hospital.

ZADHR urged the government to ensure that it expedites the testing process and upgrades the quarantine facilities to ensure that the numbers of cases do not continue increasing.

Zimbabwe had 265 officially confirmed coronavirus cases as of Friday, 5 June 2020.

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