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Leroy Dzenga Herald Reporter

Placing returning residents in quarantine is still important for the country, despite rising local cases, as it allows better disease control, authorities have said. There have been questions from some quarters on the relevance of quarantine if locally transmitted cases now exceed imported cases.

The Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare under whose purview quarantine centres fall believes it would be reckless to discard the requirement as yet.

Speaking to The Herald, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Permanent Secretary, Mr Simon Masanga, said rising cases should not negate the need for caution.

“You do not want to worsen the situation, we need to continue managing cases,” he said. “When you bring someone into the country and allow them to go home straight, if they are positive there is obviously going to be contact.”

Under the current system, returnees go into quarantine immediately after getting into the country and they spend between eight and 21 days within those facilities.

There is an option of a publicly funded quarantine process, which the majority sign up for while those who are well resourced opt for private lodges.

“When people get into quarantine centres they are tested,” said Mr Masanga. “Those who test positive either are transferred to isolation centres, or are allowed to go home and self-isolate depending on the severity of the disease. The suitability of their home contributes to the decision making.

“This process allows contact tracing on the Zimbabwean side which informs our testing, all this will be lost if we do not quarantine people.”

In recent weeks Covid-19 updates, local cases have been outnumbering imported cases the opposite of early days when the reverse held true.

Other countries have begun to relax quarantine requirements, with the United Kingdom having a list of selected countries whose visitors no longer need to be quarantined when they travel to the country.

In Africa, Kenya has taken that route, exempting travellers from 17 African countries, including Zimbabwe, from quarantine processes when they travel.