Category: zimbabwe

Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe is set to receive 20 000 test kits, 100 000 masks and 1 000 medical-use protective suits and face shields from Chinese billionaire Mr Jack Ma.

The donation is part of 1,1 million testing kits, six million masks and 60 000 hazmat suits and face shields that Mr Ma pledged to 54 African countries including Zimbabwe in a statement issued on Monday.

The entire consignment will be delivered through Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, which will take the lead in managing the logistics and distribution to the rest of the continent.

Each of the African country will also receive the same consignment as Zimbabwe.

The donation is being extended through his foundation Jack Ma and Alibaba, where he is a co-founder.

“We cannot ignore the potential risk to Africa and assume this continent of 1,3 billion people will blissfully escape the crisis. The world cannot afford the unthinkable consequences of a COVID-19 pandemic in Africa,” said Mr Ma in the statement.

He said his organisation will immediately start working with health institutions in Africa to provide online training for COVID-19 clinical treatment.

He urged African countries to start taking precautions now before the virus starts spreading rapidly on the continent and to draw lessons from countries already battling Covid-19.

“This crisis is proving to be more difficult than any of us had expected. We must make every effort to be prepared.

“The past two months have shown us that if we take it very seriously and are proactive, we are more capable of containing the virus,” said Ma.

Recently, Ma said he will also donate 500 000 coronavirus testing kits and one million face masks to the United States. He has also shared his plans to give to Europe and Iran.

“Now it is as if we were all living in the same forest on fire. As members of the global community, it will be irresponsible of us to sit on the fence, panic, ignore facts, or fail to act. We need to take action now,” Ma said.

As of Tuesday, March 15, 26 African countries had reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 with four being SADC member states — South Africa, Eswatini, Namibia and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Of these countries, South Africa reported local transmission of COVID-19.

Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
Russia has cancelled an international business conference set for June in Moscow, where a Zimbabwean delegation comprising legislators was expected to attend, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Local businessmen ranging from engineers, scientists, researchers and academics were due to converge in Moscow to explore opportunities.

The conference was supposed to take place between June 3 and 6.

Russia Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Nikolai Krasilnikov yesterday paid a courtesy call on Senate President Mabel Chinomona to advise her of the cancellation of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“We discussed a lot of bilateral issues with our Russian Ambassador, but he also brought communication about the cancellation of a business conference that we were supposed to attend. I had actually gathered a team comprising businessperson who include Members of Parliament. The cancellation is due to the coronavirus pandemic and it was done as a precautionary measure,” said Cde Chinomona.

“During our meeting, we also discussed bilateral relations between our two countries as you know Russia and China as permanent members in the United Nations Security Council have stood by us.”

Cde Chinomona said while the cancellation of the conference was unfortunate, it was necessary, given the effect of the pandemic. She said the Russia diplomat had expressed satisfaction about several measures being taken by Zimbabwean authorities to deal with the pandemic.

Mr Krasilnikov said Russia was encouraged by several measures the Government was taking to contain the disease.

“We exchange views during our meeting as the international community take necessary measures to contain the spread of the disease. We are also impressed by the measures being taken by the Government of Zimbabwe in this regard,” said Mr Krasilnikov.

He hailed the bilateral relations between Zimbabwe and Russia.

“We had a wonderful meeting with Senate President. We discussed development in various fields of our bilateral relations. You know that the relation is deep-rooted. We are happy with the state of our interaction. We stand by the Republic of Zimbabwe in many instances and we support each other in United Nations, International Parliamentary Union and other platforms,” said Mr Krasilnikov.

The pandemic has seen several people from Asia, Europe and Africa testing positive to the disease.

Zimbabwe has not recorded cases of the pandemic and continue to take precautionary measures.