156 New Covid-19 Cases reported, 1 178 424 boosted

Audrey Galawu

The National Covid-19 Inter-Ministerial Committee Chairman, Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Constatino Chiwenga reported 156 new Covid-19 cases over the past week compared to 211 in the previous week.

“For the week under review, there were twenty- two new admissions compared to the twenty-one recorded the previous week. Of these, two were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit,” Dr Chiwenga revealed.

The Health Minister said that of the cases recorded, eight of the cases were detected at St Alberts High School, Muzarabani district in Mashonaland Central.

As of October 16, 2022 the country had reported 257 905 cumulative cases with 251 916 recoveries and 5 608 deaths with a recovery rate of 98%.

Dr Chiwenga also revealed that as of October 16, 2022 a total of 6 544 428 first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine had been administered, while 4 904 750 people had received their second dose and 1 178 424 received the third dose.

Local authorities have urged the public to get vaccinated especially in Harare, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central provinces where there has been low uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The government has recently gazetted Statutory Instrument (SI) 169 authorising the wearing of masks indoors at workplaces and in public spaces except for individuals who received at least two doses of the vaccine.

Covid-19 is still a global matter of concern with countries like the UK and the UK reporting tens of thousands of new cases in a week.