Primary and secondary education minister Cain Ginyilitshe Mathema has been airlifted to Harare from Bulawayo after his health deteriorated.
The 74-year-old was admitted to the United Bulawayo Hospitals’ refurbished Covid-19 facility in mid-August after catching the respiratory illness.
ZimLive was told that the minister was flown to Harare on August 28 and is now admitted at Arundel Mediclinic. One person briefed on the minister’s condition said:
He had excessive fluids in his lungs and was getting progressively worse. I understand some kind of surgical procedure has been performed. He’s not in a good shape, but he’s battling.
Mathema did not take part in the decision to re-open schools this week, criticised as an “ambush” by teachers’ unions and parents over the short notice given by the government.
Zimbabwe’s Covid-19 infections have gone down dramatically since June when schools were supposed to re-open for the second term. On Monday, there were 144 new infections detected and 15 deaths, according to the ministry of health.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care has indicated that about 98 per cent of coronavirus cases recorded in Zimbabwe recently are of the highly contagious Delta variant that was first detected in India.
More: ZimLive