Tafadzwa Nyikadzino

Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) has set guidelines to operationalise the policy on Mandatory Employee Testing for Covid 19 for Industries which was set on Sunday to ensure that workers are safe from contacting the deadly pandemic.

The secretary for Health and Childcare Dr. Agnes Mahomva said the employee testing process will take place at public, mission hospitals, local authority institutions, and some selected private facilities while outreach teams will also be deployed to facilitate the testing of employees at their respective workplaces.

“To expedite the testing process, companies are encouraged to procure the COVID 19 rapid test kits for themselves, guided by the MOHCC in terms of test kits specifications. The following are the specifications for the recommended COVID 19 rapid test kits: 2019-N-Cov Rapid test kit, Colloidal gold Assay, WHO Prequalified. Employees must arrange with the designated testing facilities, public and private for their employees to be tested at an agreed time at the facilities or at the workplace” she said.

Dr. Mahomva said arrangements will be made for large organisations to conduct testing at their business premises to avoid congestion at the designated facilities while small organisations will be required to send their employees to the designated testing centers for testing.

“The MOHCC will provide standardized data collection tools for use during the COVID 19 screening process. All designated testing facilities should compile and submit daily reports on the MOHCC Head Quarters” she said.