The Finance Minister in an interview on 20 January said the country is doing OK and the government will continue to acquire Professional Protective Equipment (PPE) for the COVID-19 frontline workers, Bloomberg reports.
Ncube was addressing the issue of the government’s efforts towards fighting COVID-19 when he said:
Like every health system around the world Covid has put a lot of strain. We continue to acquire more PPE, we never say we have sufficient, we are doing OK. Prevention is the best medicine.
Meanwhile, some workers at one of Harare’s biggest hospitals Sally Mugabe Hospital, are not reporting for duty because they are afraid to expose themselves to the virus because of lack of PPE. According to the publication:
Nurses at Sally Mugabe Hospital, named after former President Robert Mugabe’s first wife, in the capital Harare say they get only one face mask per 12-hour shift and have to wear protective aprons normally used in bakeries.
Since the Jan. 7 death of senior nurse Miriam Pundu, they’ve refused to return to work until they are given adequate personal protective equipment.
The government has not announced a clear cut plan for the rolling out of the COVID-19 vaccine that is being rolled out in some countries.
More: Bloomberg