Govt Denies Concealing Correct COVID-19 Data

The government has denied reports that they are concealing correct COVID-19 statistics to give a false impression that the virus is under control in Zimbabwe, ZBC News reports.

Deputy Health Minister Dr. John Mangwiro dispelled the stories and said he doesn’t know why anyone would assume that the government will give false information. Dr. Mangwiro also explained the data collection procedure that is undertaken by the ministry to come up with the figures and said:

Government has got representation all over the country. Our health system is well organised from the minister, it goes to the deputy minister, permanent secretary and each town has got a representative and each province has a representative called a provincial medical director,

A provincial medical director has got a direct link to district hospitals which are manned by district medical officers.

Each district hospital is responsible for clinics under that district and has got a direct link to the rural health centres.

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Our systems are so well organised, well-oiled such that we collect data easily. We get accurate figures and information every time we need it.

I don’t know why a person assumes that Government is telling lies. The figures that we are bringing are a cumulative of what is really happening on the ground.

The Government always gives people accurate figures because this is a serious case. Yesterday, 20 people died and its correct.

We take figures from all our provinces, all our districts and then publish them. These are correct figures, real time figures which we are giving out to the public.

He said the picture is not exaggerated as the government could not play with death and urged people to adhere to COVID-19 restriction measures and said:

We should not play around with death. Zimbabweans are dying because of Covid-19. It’s the truth. The picture is not exaggerated. It is what it is.

Zimbabweans should be alert. I hope that we do not lose more people to this pandemic. Let us continue to mask up, let’s continue to sanitise and maintain social distance. Let’s stay at home and let’s avoid crowding.

Nurses and other health care professionals have said the government is concealing the data of health professionals who have tested positive for the virus and they are working without PPE and possibly spreading the disease to the people they are in contact with.

More: ZBC