Zimbabwe’s main hospital hit by COVID-19, over 400 workers isolated

Harare, Zimbabwe | Xinhua | At least 436 workers from all departments at Zimbabwe’s largest referral hospital, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, are in isolation after contracting COVID-19 while on duty, an official said Friday.

Hospital spokesperson Linos Dhire said operations had since been scaled down as a result of the situation, state news agency New Ziana reported.

Zimbabwe has recorded a 472 percent increase in new COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks, as cases skyrocket driven by the Omicron variant. This has forced the government to scale down operations to 30 percent and tighten containment measures.

On Thursday, the country recorded 4,247 COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths, pushing the national cumulative infections to 186,304 and deaths to 4,771.

A total of 4,023,013 people have received their first jab and 3,035,192 their second jab, with high numbers of vaccination being witnessed over the past two weeks as more people come forward for vaccination amid rising cases due to the Omicron variant.