Wilkins Hospital

HARARE — The Zimbabwean government has been widely criticized for downplaying coronavirus in the country amid recent reports that a Chinese national succumbed to the disease.

The now late Chinese national was a suspected victim of coronavirus. The woman was said to have arrived at a private clinic in Harare showing symptoms of coronavirus, with a Chinese doctor donning a mask and gloves to prevent getting infected.

“A Chinese woman arrived here at a city private hospital being pushed on a wheelchair and suffering severe shortness of breath, subsequently scaring off medical staff at the top private clinic, who fled from their work stations after they heard the patient was from China,” said a senior doctor at the clinic that admitted the deceased.

However, the Zimbabwean government has been widely suspected of seeking to cover up the existence of the currently dreaded disease.

According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the deceased patient who suffered from what was thought to be coronavirus and died at Wilkins hospital was said to be from Mutare.

Wilkins hospital is a local authority infectious diseases hospital in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital.

With the government insisting the deceased was not a victim of coronavirus, symptoms associated with the disease manifested on her.

Symptoms of coronavirus on an individual are coughs, fever and breathing difficulties while in severe cases there can be organ failure.

Yesterday, Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health issued a statement claiming ‘to date Zimbabwe has not had any confirmed cases of COVID19 (coronavirus).’

To the Zimbabwean government, ‘the latest suspected case is that of a woman who returned from China more than a month ago on 24 January 2020.’

That statement from the government was debunked by documentary makers like Hopewell Chin’ono, also a former Harvard Nieman Journalism Fellowship.

“Can you stop this nonsense of calling a Chinese national a Mutare woman. This was done to appease the Chinese at the cost of your own citizens knowing the truth! Coronavirus will affect anyone, so the silly idea of hiding identity is foolish,” Chin’ono tweeted recently.

Professor Jonathan Moyo, a former Information Minister in Zimbabwe, now living in Kenya on exile, tweeted ‘why do you call a Chinese woman, “a Mutare woman?” Not to upset your Chinese friends?’

“So, Mnangagwa would rather put Zimbabweans at risk to appease the Chinese?” added Professor Moyo.