By Rungano Dzikira
As the country escalates the fight against the novel Corona Virus and ‘infondemic’ alike by launching a Toll-Free Call and Data Centre in Harare yesterday, government has drawn high praise for the initiative.
The Centre, which was launched yesterday by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, is a result of a partnership between the Ministry of Information and Publicity, bread maker Innscor Africa and Telecoms firm Liquid Telecoms SA.
The centre comes on the back of an information gap on the COVID 19 virus that has been filled by all and sundry on social media, with some information being false and misleading to the general populace – the information gap has been begrudgingly referred to infondemic.
“This is a timely move by government which will certainly help to save lives. There has been a lot of unverified information that was circulating on social media pertaining the spread of the virus.
“Some people are saying it’s a plague for the rich. In most cases, this has led to a low risk mentality in most high density suburbs,” said Takaiwana Muzhanye in a telephone interview, a health analyst based in Harare.
Speaking on the same matter, health economist Brian Kaduwo said it was an important step by government to commit to the provision of correct information on the virus.
“I would like to commend Government for an excellent initiative. So much had been left to chance and social media, and we know how misleading social media can be.
“I want to urge members of the public to use the call centre to get correct information pertaining to the virus. With the right information, it’s easier to defeat the virus.”
The country has been under lockdown for the past two and halve weeks in a bid to fight the spread of the virus in the country. According to Ministry of Health and Child Welfare statistics, the number of COVID 19 infections has risen to 18 with only three deaths recorded so far.
As the third week of lockdown nears an end, the general public awaits the authorities’ decision to either extend or lift the lock down as previously announced by President Mnangagwa in his last state of the nation address.
