eNCA incorrectly reports that Zimbabwe has a confirmed COVID-19 case

CLAIM: Zimbabwe has confirmed its first case of COVID-19.
Source: eNCA, a South African 24-hour television news channel (March 16, 2020)
RATING: FALSE

On Monday, 16 March 2020, South African new channel eNCA reported that Zimbabwe had reported its first case of COVID-19.

“A lady who travelled from South Africa to Zimbabwe has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in quarantine in that country,” eNCA anchor Shahan Ramkissoon announced.

As of Tuesday, March 17, Zimbabwe had no confirmed case of coronavirus, according to both President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the health ministry.

eNCA misinterpreted and misreported a case whose details were presented by the Minister of Health, Obadiah Moyo, during his media briefing on March 16.

Moyo announced that the health ministry had been alerted, on March 15, about a Bulawayo woman who had travelled from South Africa on Monday, 9 March.

She had gone to seek medical attention for other reasons from a general practitioner in South Africa and was later informed by public health officials in South Africa advising her that her doctor had been put in self quarantine. This was after one of the patients the doctor had attended to tested positive for COVID-19.

Minister Moyo added that the woman was now under self-quarantine, together with those who stay with her.

“We are now awaiting the test results on this family, we’re going to test all of them to make sure that we know their status. At this stage, your guess is as good as mine until we get the test results,” health minister Obadiah Moyo told reporters on Monday.

The latest COVID-19 update from the health ministry, issued on March 17, said Zimbabwe still had no confirmed COVID-19 case.