HARARE, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Eighteen health workers at a public health facility in Zimbabwe's second largest city Bulawayo have tested positive for COVID-19 after coming into contact with a patient who was COVID-19 positive.
The hospital staff members, who were working in the same ward at United Bulawayo Hospitals, were placed on self-isolation after a patient admitted to the hospital tested positive for COVID-19, state run Chronicle newspaper reported Thursday.
Recently, 68 health workers at the same referral hospital went on self-isolation after a 79-year-old woman who tested positive for COVID-19 died at the facility.
Zimbabwe has been recording an increasing number of local coronavirus infections over the past few weeks.
As of Wednesday evening, the country had reported 885 confirmed coronavirus cases, 206 recoveries and 9 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
The sudden increase in COVID-19 cases comes at a time when health professionals in the country are on strike demanding payment of their salaries in U.S. dollars. Enditem
