A three-week-old baby from Matabeleland North has succumbed to the respiratory disease, Covid-19, the Ministry of Health and Child Care has confirmed.
In its latest update, the ministry said the infant “had respiratory symptoms compatible with Covid-19 and the PCR results were positive for Covid-19”.
Four other deaths were recorded that of two men and two women bringing the cumulative total of deaths in the country to 102.
“Today we regret to report five deaths which occurred from 3 to 5 August. These include 2 males and 2 females from Harare province and a baby aged 3 weeks from Matabeleland North province who had respiratory symptoms compatible with Covid-19 and the PCR results were positive for the virus,” said the health ministry on Friday.
56 new cases were reported with 54 of them being local transmissions while the other two were imported cases from South Africa.
A total of 81 new recoveries were also recorded on Friday, with the bulk of them recorded in Bulawayo (47), Mashonaland East (31) and three in Matabeleland North.
Bulawayo, the epicentre of the novel virus, now has a cumulative total of 1093 confirmed cases, 583 recoveries and 23 deaths.
Harare has 1699 confirmed cases, 76 recoveries and has recorded the highest number of deaths at 55.
The total number of confirmed cases stands at 4 451, 1 345 people have since recovered while 3 004 cases are still active.
