(Last Updated on February 17, 2021 by GERALD NCUBE)
HARARE – The South African Covid-19 variant which has been discovered to be more transmissible and possibly more fatal now makes up for over 60% of the local cases in the country, government has said.
During a post-cabinet brief on Tuesday, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the variant was now dominating local cases.
“Results of the genomic sequencing recently conducted indicate that the type of Covid-19 virus that the nation had in 2020 has receded. There is now a 61% dominance of the new South African variant of the Covid-19 virus which spreads faster and has a higher fatality rate,” Mutsvangwa said.
She said the government had directed security personnel to intensify their law enforcement efforts to enhance compliance.
Mutsvangwa further said vaccines were being sourced through various financing plans while adding that a committee had been set up to monitor the effectiveness of the vaccines.
“Vaccines are being sourced from manufacturers, through multiple financing arrangements. Vaccines are registered by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe, in terms of Section 75 of the Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act. A committee is implementing vaccine vigilance plans to monitor the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccine consignments are physically verified for the implementation of safety measures,” she added.
The country on Monday received its first consignment of the Covid-19 vaccine, a donation of 200 000 doses from China.
However, the government has said more batches of the vaccines will be coming in the following weeks, with President Emmerson Mnangagwa saying the vaccines are being procured from various countries such as the United Kingdom, Russia and India.
To date, the country has recorded 35 315 positive cases and 1414 deaths.
