HARARE – Zimbabwe’s coronavirus death toll has risen to 28 after two more people succumbed to the respiratory illness, the ministry of health announced on Thursday.
The ministry said the Harare victim was hospitalised on July 20 with Covid-19 symptoms and other comorbidities while the Bulawayo patient died shortly after being admitted with virus symptoms.
ZimLive understands the dead patient in Harare is the father of Judicial Services Commission (JSC) secretary Walter Chikwana, who died on Wednesday afternoon. He also had diabetes.
Over a dozen employees and officials at the JSC have been sent home to self-isolate as tests are carried out to establish if any other people were also infected.
Chikwana’s mother is also hospitalised, while he has mild symptoms. He has been on sick leave for over a week, according to sources.
The Chikwana family tested positive for the virus after attending a family event in Mutare, ZimLive understands.
There were 90 new cases reported on Thursday, including 83 local infections. The other seven were detected in people returning from South Africa.
Zimbabwe had just seven deaths on June 30, but it has averaged at least one death every day in July – the deadliest month since the virus was first detected on March 20.
Zimbabwe now has 2,124 cases in all, of which 510 have recovered, according to official data.
It took Zimbabwe nearly four months to reach 1,000 cases, and just nine days to reach 2,000 cases as health experts warn that the country is approaching the peak of the virus spread.
