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Masvingo Bureau
A Masvingo woman who became the first person in the province to test positive for Covid-19, is in a stable condition at Rujeko Isolation Clinic here.

She tested positive on Wednesday.

The development comes as results of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests done on 12 Gonarezhou Conservation Trust employees and contract workers came out negative, after initial fears they were infected in the wake of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) results conducted at a private laboratory in Chiredzi on Monday.

Specimens were collected from the 12 at Chiredzi District Hospital and sent to Harare for PCR tests and results came out negative.

Gonarezhou Conservation Trust had called for calm, saying Rapid Diagnostic Test results were not conclusive.

Provincial Covid-19 task-force spokesperson Mr Rodgers Irimai confirmed the negative results of all 12 Gonarezhou Conservation employees.

He said the task-force’s focus was on making sure the province’s first reported case was handled well.

The patient is a woman who recently returned from Botswana.

She was amongst 278 other returnees under mandatory quarantine at Masvingo Teachers’ College when tests showed her to be positive for Covid-19, prompting authorities to take her to the isolation facility.

“’There is no need for our people to panic over this first case. The woman is at Rujeko Isolation facility where her condition is stable. Efforts are being to make sure all her contacts are traced and tracked to make sure they also undergo further testing,” said Mr Irimai.

Before this case, Masvingo had not reported a Covid-19 positive case out of nearly 1 000 tests conducted since the pandemic broke out.

The province has open isolation facilities at Gaths Mine Hospital and Masvingo General Hospital, as the biggest centres while each district has one fully functional centre equipped to handle Covid-19 patients.