Zimbabwe is asking for greater international support to combat the coronavirus pandemic, as the existing response is still short of meeting the desired targets, Ambassador of Zimbabwe in Moscow Mike Sango told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2020) Zimbabwe is asking for greater international support to combat the coronavirus pandemic, as the existing response is still short of meeting the desired targets, Ambassador of Zimbabwe in Moscow Mike Sango told Sputnik.
"The government does not have adequate resources to mitigate against COVID-19 and has had to mobilize for both internal and external assistance. The response has been positive but still short of meeting the desired targets," Sango said.
According to the diplomat, Zimbabwe has received assistance from some countries, including from the United Kingdom, China and India, with the latter planning to begin the virtual training of health staff on managing patients with the disease. At the same time, some businesses in Zimbabwe were trying to help the country, which lacks medical and sanitary equipment.
"Provincial and district medical facilities have not been equipped with capacities to manage COVID-19 patients. National institutions like defense, police and universities have been capacitated to produce PPEs [personal protective equipment] and sanitizers, while some businesses have chipped in with both financial and material support to cushion the frontline troops against COVID-19, like health and security personnel, as well as vulnerable members of society," the ambassador said.
The ambassador added that while rich states were able to quickly mobilize resources and capacity to deal with the virus once it had been identified and adopt measures to confront it, poor countries with burdened economies were not able to respond similarly and relied more on external support, and Zimbabwe was no exception.
Last week, Zimbabwe-born billionaire Strive Masiyiwa appealed to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other multilateral institutions to establish a Special Purpose Trust Vehicle under the leadership of independent people, including global humanitarians, to help Zimbabwe and Sudan fight the pandemic.
As of Wednesday, Zimbabwe has reported 34 confirmed coronavirus infection cases, including four fatalities. It is believed, however, that the low rate in Zimbabwe � and the bigger rest of Africa, for that matter � is not due to the actual absence of infection, but rather due to shortage of adequate diagnostic capacities.
