Zim Records An Upsurge In Covid -19 Cases As Quarantine Days Are Reduced To 13 Days

The number of COVID-19 confirmed Covid-19 cases have surged to 885 after 98 new cases were recorded yesterday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, more than half of the new cases were imported from neighboring countries.

This is happening at a time when the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revised guidelines on the minimum number of quarantine days from 21 to 13 days.

This has also been approved by the government, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa announced during a post-cabinet media briefing on Tuesday.

Mutsvangwa said inmates will now stay in quarantine or isolation centres for 13 days or less, down from the previous 21 days depending on PCR tests results and status of symptoms.

She added that the new guidelines set by WHO will ease the situation in quarantine and isolation centres, see a discharge of people as well as reducing number of retests.

“Those with symptoms will spend a minimum of 13 days in isolation and a minimum of 10 days for asymptomatic patients instead of the 21 days following two consecutive negatives PCR results that are 24 hours apart,” said Mutsvangwa.

She further noted that patients who continue to test positive for the disease were presently not being discharged.

The new WHO criteria for discharging patients from isolation centres were in two parts.

“For symptomatic patients, they should be discharged after a minimum of 13 days which included a minimum of 10 days after symptom onset (fever and respiratory symptoms) and an additional three days without symptoms.

“For those without symptoms (asymptomatic), they can be discharged 10 days after they would have had a positive test,” added Mutsvangwa.