BY NHAU MANGIRAZI/LORRAINE MUROMO DIRECTOR of epidemiology in the Health ministry Portia Manangazira has cautioned communities to desist from stigmatising COVID-19 patients, especially infected schoolchildren who will return home after writing exams. Manangazira said this last week in Karoi while addressing delegates at the Zimbabwe National Practitioners Association (ZINPA) annual general meeting. She said many children have been infected by the coronavirus and should undergo self-isolation at home when they join their families for the festive season. ‘‘COVID-19 infections have risen of late and schools have become breeding spaces for infection locally. At least 40 schools — mostly boarding schools have been affected with students writing exams while in self-quarantine,” Manangazira said. “These are schoolchildren who will be going for holidays after writing the exams in isolation. My appeal therefore, and on behalf of the Ministry of Health, is that don’t stigmatise anyone infected by COVID-19. They remain part of our families, communities and the nation at large. Let them undergo the required self-isolation by the World Health Organisation and when they recover embrace them,” she said. Manangazira also warned that during the festive season, diasporans will be coming back home and, therefore, people must take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Meanwhile, teachers have expressed concern over lack of adequate resources to combat COVID-19 at schools. The Zimbabwe Rural Teachers Union co-ordinator Wonder Nyapokoto told NewsDay in an interview that most rural schoolchildren had not been tested for the virus. “While it is common cause that COVID-19 is among us, zero pupils and teachers were tested. So if there is infection going on, the likelihood of teachers and pupils succumbing to the coronavirus is very high,” Nyapokoto said. Follow us on Twitter @newsdayzimbabwe