The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nick Mangwana has asked all attendees of the Gweru National Development Strategy workshop to get tested for the coronavirus.
This comes after it has emerged that Foster Dongozi, the late former Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists succumbed to COVID-19 on 23 December.
Posting on Twitter, Mangwana indicated centres where the attendees should be tested. He said:
Harare based Media and Govt Officials who attended the Gweru Workshop from 13-18 December 2020, please attend Covid19 testing at the Fire Brigade at 11 am tomorrow.
Those from Mat south, Bulawayo, Midlands you will be contacted and get tested at home.
Some responded to the tweet saying the government was slow to respond and that might put many lives in danger.
Meanwhile, members of the media who had planned to give a befitting sendoff the veteran journalist were barred after Dongozi’s medial report said he had succumbed to the virus.
Journalists who interacted with Dongozi at the NDS1 workshop have reportedly gone into self-isolation.
There has been complacency in the country with merrymakers sometimes going to public places without wearing face masks.
More: Nick Mangwana Twitter