Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

From George Maponga in Masvingo
Government has expressed concern over prospects of the uncontrolled entry of people into the country through Sango Border Post and adjacent areas along the long and porous border with Mozambique, prompting the opening of a quarantine facility at the port of entry.

Besides, a quarantine facility, the local clinic at the border post is also being upgraded to serve as an isolation facility for Covid-19 suspects.

The isolation facility at Sango will serve as a satellite station for the bigger facility opened at Chikombedzi Mission Hospital with 30 beds.

Sango is the gateway to the Mozambican capital of Maputo and there has been an upsurge of both human and vehicular traffic passing through the border post as trade between Zimbabwe and Mozambique continues to flourish.

Travellers from Mozambique going and coming from South Africa also prefer using Sango, which makes the route shorter.

The Masvingo provincial Covid-19 taskforce led by Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs, Ezra Chadzamira on Tuesday toured the border post.

Minister Chadzamira said the volume of traffic at Sango Border Post warranted the opening of a Covid-19 isolation facility and quarantine centre.

This was intended to insulate Chiredzi District from the spectre of the deadly virus which can easily sweep through.

“The taskforce noted that Sango Border Post daily accounted for high human and vehicular traffic by virtue of being the shortest route to Maputo in Mozambique from either here in Zimbabwe or South Africa and vice versa.”

“Areas around the border are also vulnerable in terms of spread of Covid-19 because the long border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique is porous, hence the need to make sure that there is a safety net for communities in southern Chiredzi to protect them from the deadly virus.”

The provincial Covid-19 taskforce saw the urgent need to upgrade the adjacent clinic and open a temporary isolation centre.

“We cannot stop our citizens from coming home, but we need a decent place to keep them safe in line with Government policy, hence the building of a quarantine facility.”

Minister Chadzamira said the province had managed to mobilise substantial financial and material resources from donors led by Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe that were being used to upgrade Sango Clinic and building the quarantine facility.

Nesia Mhaka Herald Correspondent
The World Food Programme (WFP) has pledged to continue distributing food aid to vulnerable groups across the country.

Over five million people in the country are in need of food after the country experienced drought during the 2018-19 cropping season.

WFP Zimbabwe said in a statement issued this week that it was targeting the needy especially those affected by Covid-19 and drought.

“WFP has a critical role to play by sustaining its scaled-up food assistance programme and must be able to deliver at full capacity while supporting the country’s response to the pandemic,” it said.

It said it is pre-positioning three months of food and cash assistance, rolling out new risk-control measures at distribution points by increasing the number to prevent overcrowding, initiating hand washing and monitored social distancing.

The UN agency said it was also launching a communications campaign to convey essential health and safety information to the beneficiaries of its programme.

WFP said it was appealing to the international community for about US$130 million to sustain and enhance their feeding schemes up to August.

WFP Zimbabwe said it was planning to assist 4,1 million people this month up from 3,7 million people last month although the target might not be achieved due to lack of funding.

“The total number of food insecure people stands at 7,7 million, more than half the population.

“The US$130 million is part of a total food assistance requirement of US$472 million through to December,” said WFP Zimbabwe.