PHILA

Public Health Information Lab, a @newswireZW public health initiative. Because quality information on public health helps fight disease.

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Unicef: Maternal antiretroviral treatment (ART) coverage in Zimbabwe has surpassed 90%

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Zim has more than halved maternal mortality rates in under 10 years, from 960 per 100,000 live births in 2010 to 462 in 2019.

.@UNICEFZIMBABWE has today released its 2021 annual report, showing state of Zim’s health and child care.

🧵Highlights thread of successes and problems

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Unicef: Almost half of Zimbabwean children aged 13-18 are currently out of school

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Cabinet today: Vaccinated travelers into Zimbabwe will no longer need to bring a negative PCR test. Returning residents and visitors will now only be required to show that they have been fully vaccinated.

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The World Bank and Zimbabwe today signed a US$6.6m financing agreement for Zim’s COVID-19 response.
The grant “will be complemented by interventions that strengthen the capacity for routine modeling and genomic sequencing analysis”, World Bank said

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Zimbabwe has reopened its land borders, citing the ‘continued decline in new (COVID) cases and deaths’.
Travelers must have a negative COVID-19 PCR test not more than 48 hours old and must be fully vaccinated, according to a Cabinet statement

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Unvaccinated civil servants are now barred from work and will not be paid, unless they have a doctor’s exemption, according to this memo from the @psczimbabwe.

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Easing COVID19 measures today, the @MoHCCZim said “the national COVID19 epidemic curve is indicating that the 4th wave is at its tail end…”

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JUST IN: Government has eased COVID19 restrictions.

Schools can reopen on Feb 7, curfew period has been cut, and businesses can now open for longer hours

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UAE lifts a ban on travellers from 12 African countries, including Zimbabwe, from Saturday. The UAE banned travel over Omicron late last year. Emirates Airlines says it will operate 6 weekly flights to Hre from 30 Jan.
Travelers will need a negative PCR test not older than 48hrs

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The EU has lifted travel bans on Southern African countries. The ban was imposed late 2021 over the Omicron variant. Travelers from the region, including from Zimbabwe, will need to show negative PCR tests 72 hours prior to departure

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President @edmnangagwa announces that the reopening of schools has been delayed ‘until further notice’.
Schools were due to open for the first term on January 10.

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Govt has today extended current lockdown measures by two more weeks. Current measures include:
• PCR tests for all travelers on arrival
• 9PM-6AM curfew
• Shops open 7AM-7PM
• No liquor consumption at bottle stores, bars only admit vaccinated clients
• Restaurants close 7PM

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Does Omicron spread faster than other variants? Does it cause more severe illness?
The @WHO’s Dr @mvankerkhove explains

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South Africa has today announced that it will donate 2 030 400 doses of J&J COVID19 vaccines to other African countries through the African Vaccination Acquisition Trust (AVAT).
The vaccines are worth R288.6 million

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Govt has extended current COVID19 measures by two more weeks, citing the ‘marked increase’ in new daily cases. Govt has also ordered its departments to stop face to face meetings. ‘All remaining end of year planning and other such critical meetings shall be held virtually’

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British Health Secretary Sajid Javid says 11 countries, including Zimbabwe, will now be removed from UK’s travel 'red list' from Wednesday. In November, UK led bans on Southern Africa over the omicron variant