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Herald Reporter

Covid-19 infection rates continue to edge down, with the rolling average yesterday dropping below 1000 a day for the first time since the first week of December, but death rates are being a lot stickier with the last few days seeing the average a little over 17 a day.

Yesterday the Ministry of Health and Child Care reported 709 new cases and 20 deaths. This brought the seven-day rolling averages, which measure trends, down to 988 for new cases but the average for deaths was still at 17.4, roughly the level it has been sticking at since it peaked over several days at around 20.

Harare province continues to show the highest number of daily deaths, with seven of yesterday’s 20, while Bulawayo, with about 30 percent of the population, had just one. The much higher vaccination rates in Bulawayo are seen as one reason for a fairly consistent lower death rate in this fourth wave, once adjusting for population.

Bulawayo now has 51,4 percent of its population aged 16 and over having had both jabs, with 58,7 percent having had one. The only real competitor on the provincial charts is next-door Matabeleland North that has 59,3 percent with one jab but just 46,6 percent with both. Manicaland, with 52 percent on one jab, is the only other province that has reached the half-way mark in people entering the programme, but has just 40,3 percent with both.

Harare is just under the national average of 44,4 percent with one shot and 34 percent with both. The Ministry splits Harare into Harare and Chitungwiza, but Harare is 41,9 with one jab and 32,6 with both, while Chitungwiza is 36,7 with one and 24,1 with both. Putting the two together they are less than 60 percent of the Bulawayo totals.