First child to succumb the Coronavirus
MAPHISA, Zimbabwe. (News of the South)-The baby was admitted to Maphisa District Hospital last Friday with severe pneumonia and died the following day.
It was only discovered that she had succumbed to Covid-19 after her death through a post-mortem and was buried at the family’s rural home in Silawa, Maphisa.
The investigations by the Ministry of Health and Child Care have shown that the child travelled to Bulawayo with her mother sometime last week.
The mother who lives in Garikai Houses in Maphisa has now been placed under isolation at her home.
Matabeleland South Provincial Medical Director, Dr. Rudo Chikodzore said this was the first Covid-19 related death of a child recorded in the country.
A post-mortem was conducted and it revealed that the child had succumbed to Covid-19.
This was a local transmission case and traces of all the places they visited in Bulawayo have been revisited as tests needs to be done.
In a statement released, the Ministry of Health and Child Care said it regretted the baby’s death.
A senior health official who has been directly handling the matter said they have been struggling to get information from the bereaved family as they have not been co-operative.
He said the authenticity of some of the information is questionable.The official also said members of the family were also giving contradicting explanations on issues surrounding the death of the baby and the travel history.
“The family has been giving us problems when it comes to supplying us with information as they are not forthcoming.”
The mother said, that the baby was born with an asthma problem and when I took her to hospital, she had experienced an asthma attack. Unfortunately, she died the following day and all I know is that it was because of an asthma attack and not Covid-19.
She is hurt and suffering as she cannot believe the covid-19 killed her baby.
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