by STAFF WRITER
GOVERNMENT has kitted out three Ebola isolation centres in Harare, Bulawayo and the Zambian border post of Chirundu, even though the country has yet to register a single case of the haemorrhagic fever.
The health minister, Dr Douglas Mombeshora, told reporters in Harare that the units were part of a broader readiness push.
Protective gear, patient-transport plans and an emergency command structure are already in place, he said. “Surveillance systems are fully functional. Screening has been intensified at all ports of entry, and health workers are receiving ongoing training.”
The move reflects nervousness about sporadic outbreaks elsewhere on the continent rather than any immediate domestic threat.
Zimbabwean officials are betting that front-loaded investment in quarantine capacity and border checks will prove cheaper—and politically wiser—than scrambling to catch up after a first infection.
Public-awareness campaigns are being stepped up to teach people what to look for and why they should report to a clinic early.
The ministry insisted its operational framework had been designed for “rapid containment” should a case slip through.
For now, the isolation beds remain empty, a costly but deliberate insurance policy.
The government clearly remembers how slow-footed responses in West Africa a decade ago allowed Ebola to burn through whole communities before the world paid attention.
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