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Ray Bande in CHIMANIMANI

ZIMBABWE remains on high alert at all its official entry points in view of the global health threat of coronavirus, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa has said.

Speaking to hundreds of Zanu PF supporters at Duri Business Centre in Chimanimani at a rally to drum up support for party candidate Cde Charles Chinamira ahead of the March 14 council by-election, Minister Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe had not recorded a single confirmed case of coronavirus.

“There is talk about coronavirus these days,” she said. “We do not have a confirmed case of coronavirus here in Zimbabwe. Our Minister of Health has been tasked to update the nation on efforts the country is taking in preventing coronavirus. He has been doing so diligently.

“In fact, all the country’s entry points are on high alert, including the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and all border crossing points like Forbes and Beitbridge, where screening is taking place to ensure that we do not have coronavirus patients coming into the country unnoticed. We want to assure the nation that we are on high alert and rumours that coronavirus has been detected here and there in Zimbabwe remain baseless.”

Sen Mutsvangwa’s sentiments come after a second suspected coronavirus patient who was isolated at Wilkins Hospital in Harare over the weekend tested negative.

The first suspected case was recorded two weeks ago and involved a 27-year-old Harare woman who was suspected to have contracted the disease after visiting Wuhan, China.

The woman tested negative to the virus and was released from hospital within days.