BY BLESSED MHLANGA
The government’s handling of coronavirus statistics has come under scrutiny after authorities released a series of figures that do not tally. On Friday, Zimbabwe had to revise downwards the number of people that have so far tested positive for coronavirus after a Bulawayo case was counted twice following a retest.
Statistics analysts said information released by the government through the Health and Child Care ministry since the country recorded its first case on March 20 raised a lot questions.
Data released by the government showed that total tests conducted from March 20 to April 24 were 5 687, yet a physical count of the tests reported daily only adds up to 5 583. There are at least 104 tests that cannot be explained.
On Friday, a Mashonaland East tally by the Health and Child Care ministry showed that four people had recovered from the disease, but national figures released in the early hours of yesterday said only two people had recuperated.
“All the four cases from Mashonaland East (Ruwa) of Covid-19 recovered from the disease after having two samples collected and tested negative,” the Mashonaland East provincial medical director tweeted, tagging the World Health Organisation.
Further enquiries revealed that only one member of the Ruwa family that tested positive for coronavirus or Covid-19 had been successfully treated. Four members of the family had tested positive of the virus.
Wes Beal, a data analyst who has been tracking the Health and Child Care ministry’s despatches on coronavirus tests, said the confusion in the figures could complicate the response to the pandemic.
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“The figures are really not adding up,” Beal said.
“While I am not aware as to why they are not adding up, the most likely explanation for all this is simple sloppiness — a poor job being done tracking the actual numbers and reporting them, although there might be no malicious intent.
Agnes Mahomva, the permanent secretary in Health and Child Care ministry, said government would investigate the alleged discrepancies.
“We are committed to giving reliable and usable data that the people of Zimbabwe can trust,” Mahomva said.
“We have absolutely no benefit in manipulating figures.
“What the ministry is going to do is look at the numbers you are talking about and if there are any discrepancies, we will be the first to correct like we did with the retest of the Bulawayo case.”
Nick Mangwana, the Information permanent secretary, said government had no intention of hiding the true impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We said we will do 40 000 tests and surely, we cannot be manipulating numbers by 104, we could have said we tested 10 000 if there was any interest in doing that,” Mangwana said.
“There is no case to be made here, but I will refer you to the Ministry of Health for the technical explanation, but government is determined to be transparent.”
As of Friday, Zimbabwe had recorded 28 coronavirus cases with four deaths.
