According to reports by Shingai Nyoka of BBC, health clinics in Zimbabwe are facing a crisis as a significant number of their nurses are leaving for better opportunities outside the country mostly in the United Kingdom.

Perpetua Kaseke, the acting Chief Nursing Officer for the authorities in the capital, Harare, told Nyoka that most of her clinics were operating at 50% capacity as most of them have left to the UK or Ireland, others to Zimbabwe’s neighboring countries. Most nurses in Zimbabwe are underpaid and can barely afford rent and other needs. They are now fed up.

According to Zimbabwe’s State Health Service Board, over 2,200 medical personnel left its services last year alone of which 900 of them were nurses.

Nyoka spoke to one nurse who had left for the United Kingdom since last July and he indicated that he now earns about 10 times what he did back in Zimbabwe and the money he sends back goes a long way. He can now afford to send his children to boarding school and support other family members in need.

Since the announcement of the two confirmed cases of the COVID-19 on the 12th March 2020 by the Ministry of Health, Ghana has recorded 4 additional cases. This was announced by the Ministry of Information today in a press briefing. Two of the four cases were recorded on Friday and the other two recorded on Saturday. [appbox googleplay screenshots com.nursinginghana.licensurequizgame] The first case on Friday included a 56-year-old Ghanaian who travelled to the United Kingdom and came back to Obuasi, in the Ashanti Region on 4th March. He showed symptoms on Thursday, March 12, blood samples were tested at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine and came out positive. The other case on Friday involved a Ghanaian student who had travelled to the US. She came back on Monday, March 9 but showed signs of Covid-19 on Friday, March 13. A test was run at Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research and was confirmed positive. The Saturday case involved a Ghanaian, 42, who had flown into Ghana on Sunday, March 8 has travelled to Switzerland and the UK. He showed symptoms on Monday, March 9. The other case was reported at the Tema General Hospital on Saturday with fever and acute respiratory illness. The man, 41, had travelled to Germany and Turkey within the last 14 days. All the confirmed cases have since been quarantined and receiving treatment and are in stable condition according to Dr Badu Sarkodie, Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service.

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a family of viruses that causes mild to severe illnesses varying from the common cold to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). COVID-19 is the disease caused by the new coronavirus that emerged in China in December last year. [appbox googleplay screenshots com.nursinginghana.licensurequizgame] The incubation period of the virus ranges from 1-12.5 days (median 5-6 days). In this period, the infected person may not show any symptoms. The virus is mainly transmitted through droplets sprayed by affected individuals, contact with patient respiratory secretions, contaminated surfaces and equipment.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

Early Stage signs and symptoms include: Fever above 38^oC combined with respiratory symptoms including:

• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Runny nose
• Weakness
• Malaise
• Nausea/vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Headache

Advanced Stage signs include all the earlier symptoms with

• Pneumonia
• Bronchitis

NOTE: Having the symptoms above does not mean you have coronavirus disease unless it is laboratory confirmed. [appbox googleplay screenshots com.nursinginghana.licensurequizgame] References Lauer, S. A., Grantz, K. H., Bi, Q., Jones, F. K., Zheng, Q., Meredith, H. R., … Lessler, J. (2020). The Incubation Period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) From Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases: Estimation and Application. Annals of Internal Medicine. doi: 10.7326/m20-0504