Prison Officers, Inmates, Succumb To COVID-19

Six prison officers and four inmates succumbed to COVID-19 during the festive season which was preceded by the outbreak of the second wave.

Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu said despite the surge in cases during the festive period, they didn’t record alarming cases. In an interview with the Herald, Chihobvu said:

We have four inmates and six prison officers who succumbed to Covid-19 during the festive period across the country. The numbers are not alarming given our population and we are happy that the situation is under control.

Comm-Gen Chihobvu said ZPCS was strictly adhering to the Ministry of Health and Child Care as well as the World Health Organisation’s health regulations.

COVID-19 first breached prison walls in July 2020 when four inmates and one prison officer at Bulawayo Prison tested positive for the deadly pandemic prompting ZPCS to scale up measures to contain the coronavirus.

Since then, thousands of prisoners were released from jail through the presidential amnesty programme which was also a way of decongesting the correctional services.

The report comes when health authorities have said Zimbabwe is already experiencing a third wave of the novel virus.

The Ministry of Health and Child Care is urging members of the public to get vaccinated en masse so as to achieve community immunity.

More: Pindula News; The Herald