Popular for their brutality, police deployed to maintain public safety during the lockdown lack COVID-19 protection gear

by Lizwe Sebatha

BULAWAYO, April 3. 2020 (The Citizen Bulletin) —Police officers in Matabeleland South have raised concerns over their health safety as they continue working without protective gear amid the coronavirus crisis which has sent Zimbabwe on a 21-day lockdown.

In Zimbabwe, COVID-19 testing is only done in Harare, the capital city. Photo credit: Unsplash

by Staff Reporter

BULAWAYO, March 31. 2020 (The Citizen Bulletin) — The Matabeleland South province Department of Health announced Tuesday that for the first time, it was closely monitoring two suspected COVID-19 cases.

Zimbabwe's nationwide lockdown kicked off yesterday, to contain the spread of the Coronavirus

by Lizwe Sebatha

BULAWAYO, 31 March 2020. (The Citizen Bulletin) — Matabeleland South’s major towns — Plumtree, Gwanda and Beitbridge — were eerily quiet yesterday, the first day of the country’s 21-day COVID-19 lockdown, as people in outlying rural areas, the province’s biggest settlements, continued with their business as usual. 

ILL-EQUIPPED: Gwanda provincial hospital will not be ready to handle Covid-19 patients should the deadly virus visit the Matabelelend South provincial capital

• Mnangagwa announces 21 day mandatory quarantine for all citizens except those providing essential services.
• Promises Covid-19 testing and treatment in provinces. 

by Lizwe Sebatha

GWANDA — Matabeleland South province  has been forced to set up an independent Coronavirus (Covid-19) taskforce frustrated over the Harare administration’s lackadaisical approach to assist the province to effectively deal with the pandemic. 

A protest march by senior medical doctors in Harare, in Dec., 2019. Photographer: Jekesai Njikizanna/AFP via Getty Images

by AP

(HARARE) — The country's public hospital doctors went on strike Wednesday over a lack of protective gear as the coronavirus begins to spread in a country whose health system has almost collapsed. It’s the latest blow to a system where some patients’ families are asked to provide such basics as gloves and even clean water.