The Ministry would like to report that following an unusual clustering of the six cases that were reported as positive from Harare yesterday, these results were therefore considered interim and hence additional tests have been conducted as part of the laboratory Quality Management System to validate these results in line with the Laboratory Standard Operating Procedures and protocols as well as International best practices. The Ministry will update the nation of the results of this Quality Assurance involving the entire testing process: pre-analytical, analytical (testing), and post-analytical processes.

In the meantime, today, a total of 672 tests were done as shown in table I below, giving a total of 8 314 screening and diagnostic tests done to date. All the PCR tests done in Bulawayo today were negative for COVID-I9. Results for the PCR tests done in Harare today. were still pending at the time of print.

Table 1: Distribution of tests done today

*Disaggregation of tests done by province was not available at the time of print

Therefore, to date, Zimbabwe has forty confirmed cases, including five recoveries and four deaths. Six of these cases are undergoing quality review.

Table 2: Number of confirmed cases to date

**6 cases reported on 29 April 2020 undergoing Quality checks.

The Ministry continues to be on HIGH alert to the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be guided by the COVID-19 containment strategy which is based on intensified active surveillance, timely case detection, testing, isolation and management of all COVID-19 cases. Further, the Ministry would like to remind the nation that, the most effective ways to protect yourself and others against COVID-19 are to practise good personal hygiene and exercise social distancing.