XOLISANI NCUBE
Sadc health ministers are meeting in Tanzania to find a solution to tackle the highly contagious Covid-19 outbreak which is now within its borders.
South Africa, the regional economic hub, has recorded at least seven cases of Coronavirus while other states within the region are on high alert to deal with the possibility of the spread of the virus.
Health and child care minister Obadiah Moyo confirmed being in Tanzania attending the Sadc meeting.
“I am in Tanzania with other health ministers; we are trying to brainstorm on how we can tackle this virus as a region. We are exposed to it but we need a collective approach that promotes good public health care as well as trade,” he said.
The Africa Centre for Disease Control has since established an African taskforce for coronavirus, a continental platform to help countries coordinate their efforts across the continent.
So far, nine African countries have recorded 80 confirmed cases of the disease.
The main purpose of the meeting was to share existing knowledge and information on the COVID-19 outbreak, which has had devastating global impacts since its outbreak in December 2019, and agree on how to harmonize and coordinate the preparedness and response to Covid-19 in the SADC region.
