725 days of the COVID-19 Lockdown, and as of 23rd March 2022, the Ministry of Health and Child Care reported that, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases had increased to 245 194 after 263 new cases all local cases, were recorded. The highest case tally was recorded in Manicaland with 62 cases. We note that the Hospitalisation rate data as at 15:00hrs on 22 March 2022, was: 33 hospitalised cases: 4 New Admissions, 3 Asymptomatic cases, 29 mild-to-moderate cases, 1 severe cases and 0 cases in Intensive Care Unit. 16 of the 33 hospitalized were vaccinated and 17 were not vaccinated. A total of 85 775 people received their 1st dose of vaccine. The cumulative number of the 1st dose vaccinated now stands at 4 585 820. A total of 5 062 recipients received their second dose bringing the cumulative number of 2nd dose recipients to 3 452 864. A total of 10 169 people received their 3rd dose of vaccine shots bringing the cumulative for 3rd doses to 200 088. Active cases went down to 4 257. The recovery rate remains at 96%. The total number of recoveries went up to 235 505 increasing by 412 recoveries. The death toll remained at 5 432, no new deaths were recorded.
Area of Concern
Education Sector and Access to Water
We continue to highlight distress in schooling communities with limited access to water and sanitation services. Access to water is a constitutionally protected right as is the right to education. Government is constitutionally charged with the duty to ensure the progressive realisation and enjoyment of these rights. From time immemorial, we have been constantly raising the dire water and sanitation crisis in the country, and the need to ensure that education facilities and schools are radically improved to the benefit of the vulnerable population. We continue to bemoan measures which ultimately place the burden of the national pandemic on the shoulders of over-burdened and over-stretched communities.
- We therefore urge Government to come up with comprehensive strategies to ensure that all schools have access to water.
- We remind Government that every child has a right to education and therefore no learner should be discriminated and penalised on the basis of their schools’ capacity to mobilise resources for “procurement of water”.
Source: WCOZ
