Zimbabwe is ready to use anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to reduce the impact of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) if it is hit by the epidemic.
This was said last week by Health and Child Care Minister, Obadiah Moyo when he delivered a ministerial statement to parliament on the country’s situation regarding coronavirus. He said:
I want to indicate to the Honourable Members here present that please be wary and be aware of the fact that there is no vaccine yet for the control of Coronavirus or COVID-19.
What is available at the moment is as a result of some tests which were carried out by the Chinese and also one of the nations in Asia where they found that the use of the current antiretrovirals, (ARVs), one specific one called KALETRA which is a combination anti-retroviral which has Lopinavir and ritonavir and also if using combination – with another booster called anti-interferon or an alpha-interferon, can be able to reduce or stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, a Zimbabwean woman who had travelled to China and passed through Wuhan before she returned home was briefly quarantined at Wilkins Hospital. She was discharged on Thursday after tests showed that she was coronavirus-free.