BULAWAYO – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says it is supporting the widow of a Zimbabwean engineer who became the third person to die of coronavirus on April 8.
Fifty-year-old Charles Zvandaziva’s widow, who cannot be named for professional reasons, was in Sudan where she works for UNICEF when her husband, who was known as ‘Patient 9’, succumbed to the virus.
The United Nations agency, through its Zimbabwe country office resident coordinator Maria Gomes, shared its “deepest sympathy and solidarity” with the Zvandaziva family.
Gomes added in an internal memo seen by ZimLive: “I know UNICEF is doing all they can to bring her home as soon as possible. Every action is being taken with regards to supporting the affected family with counselling and necessary health care follow-up in line with the World Health Organisation protocols to minimise risks to them and others.”
Zvandaziva was buried on Thursday, less than 24 hours after his death, in line with government protocols for handling corpses of people killed by infectious diseases. His widow missed his burial.
Zvandaziva, originally from Kwekwe, was a mine engineer in Hwange.
He left Hwange Colliery where he was the Open Mast Mining manager to join gold miner, Bilboes Holdings.
He returned from a trip to the United Kingdom on March 21 before being taken ill on April 1 with a fever, which led to tests being carried out and his eventual admission to Wilkins Hospital in Harare where he died following respiratory complications.
Zvandaziva is officially the third person to succumb to Covid-19 in Zimbabwe. The country has only confirmed 11 cases to date, equating to a mortality rate of 27 percent.
