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Dennis Mazingi (cohort 2020-2021) is co-author of this article that describes the different trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic was in Zimbabwe compared to predictions and even sophisticated modelling studies.

Map of Zimbabwe © Google maps
Map of Zimbabwe

This article was written by a small group of clinical and non-clinical health care workers and researchers from Zimbabwe who have been involved in the pandemic in various ways in our country.

They noticed how different the trajectory of the pandemic was in their country compared to predictions and even sophisticated modelling studies. They thought that a description of what actually happened was necessary and timely.

They narrate the sequence of events as well as corrective measures put in place by the government. It adds to the interesting discourse that is currently underway about the divergence between predicted scenarios and the eventual reality, the reasons why predictions were so pessimistic and why Africa in general and Zimbabwe, in particular, appears to have bucked the trend.

It may inform how we think about the risks of infectious disease pandemics in the future and also what our responses to them should be. Time will tell whether the indirect consequences of the pandemic and our response to it had a more profound effect than the virus itself. 

Read the full article: A descriptive study of the trends of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe from March - June 2020: policy and strategy implications on the PAMJ website