Zimbabwe coronavirus positivity rate down to 5%

Zimbabwe yesterday had 144 new coronavirus cases with a positivity rate of 5% which according to the World Health Organisation indicates that the pandemic is getting under control.

It is not clear whether Zimbabwe can sustain this rate as it has been fluctuating between 8 and 9% over the past few days but was down to as low as 0.7% before the outbreak of the Omicron variant.

The country extended its Level Two national lockdown by two weeks on Friday but said schools could re-open a week after that if the situation was under control.

The government, however, urged learning institutions to put measures in place for schools to re-open and urged all eligible teachers and pupils to get vaccinated.

There were four deaths yesterday, another decline from the previous day. The country had been recording more than 10 deaths a day prior to that with 234 deaths in the first 14 days of this month.

Zimbabwe now has 13 729 active cases after 1 014 people recovered with Masvingo now having the lowest number of cases.

Mashonaland East had 376 recoveries with cases dropping to 2 882. Mashonaland West has 2 582, Harare 731, Bulawayo 406 and Masvingo 368.

Just over 6 000 people were vaccinated yesterday with 2 236 getting the first jab, 3 430 the second and 833 the third.

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