UNICEF and Action Faim (AF) have offered to help the government of Zimbabwe set up a quarantine facility at the Sango Border Post in Masvingo Province.

Development Diaries learnt that when the country’s Covid-19 provincial task force toured the border post, it highlighted the urgent need for a quarantine facility.

Reacting to this development, the Masvingo provincial development coordinator, Fungai Mbetsa, said, ‘UNICEF has since gone on the ground to assess how best the quarantine facility will be set up at the border post and we expect feedback from Action Faim soon.

‘We had set a budget for the quarantine facility because it is very urgent that it be opened considering the human traffic that passes through the border post daily’.

It was gathered that the existing small clinic at the border post was too small, hence Mbetsa said, ‘We do not know whether they will open a permanent facility or a temporary one, but the two organisations have promised us that something will be done very soon.

‘There is a very small clinic at Sango, which is operating, but it cannot handle many people, so we are going to make sure that a bigger facility is opened without any further delay. We are happy that our partners have come forward to help’.

It was also learnt that Zimplats has stepped up efforts to arrest the Covid-19 scourge after conducting awareness campaigns in Chegutu, Mhondoro-Ngezi, and Norton Town.

The awareness campaigns, which started in May following the introduction of lockdown by President Mnangagwa, seek to increase compliance levels in communities.

Source: The Herald

Photo source: UNICEF Ethiopia