Rumbidzai Ngwenya
THE government says Zimbabweans should not panic about the current outbreak of flu in the country, as this was not linked to Covid.
This comes after many people contracted serious bouts of flu over the past few days, which present symptoms similar to those of Covid-19.
Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, the national Covid-19 co-ordinator in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office, Agnes Mahomva, said although people should isolate themselves when they have the flu, this wasn’t related to Covid.
“There is absolutely no reason to panic about a wave of flu which has infected people lately. There is no need to panic at all because the Covid-19 pandemic is being brought under control very nicely.
“However, if people get flu-like symptoms, they should isolate, stay at home and avoid mingling with others even if they are not tested,” she said.
Mahomva also said the government was focusing more on vaccinating people, rather than testing them for Covid-19.
“For now we are focusing on making sure that we vaccinate people, and thus providing protection rather than giving priority to testing.
“Over 90 percent of Covid-19 cases that we are seeing now are mild, thanks to the vaccination programme that we are running.
“So we will continue to encourage people to get vaccinated so that if they do get the virus they do not get ill severely or end up dying from it,” Mahomva said.
This comes as health experts are also calling upon citizens not to panic, following the detection of new Covid variants in neighbouring Botswana and South Africa.
“For sure there is an outbreak of flu, and as you know thus is caused by the influenza virus. But the good news is that we have been noting these cases and samples sent for testing reveal that this is not Covid-19.
“The flu presents itself exactly in a similar way like Covid 19, with the distinction coming from testing,” the president of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners Association, Joannes Marisa, told the Daily News yesterday.
“However, the government should make sure that it does not drop its guard against Covid-19,” he added.
The president of the Zimbabwe Nurses Association, Enock Dongo, also emphasised the need for caution, saying neighbouring countries could easily be a source of new infections.
“We have to admit that it is the new norm of living with Covid-19. Therefore, there is a need to sit down with the government and draft certain measures on how to prevent the spreading of Covid-19 and other new variants yet to be detected,” he said.
Meanwhile, new Covid-19 cases are continuing to decline in the country. On April 18, Zimbabwe recorded 19 new cases only and one death from the 867 tests that were conducted on the day.