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Zimbabwe’s COVID-19 deaths surge to 53 as cases surpass 3,000

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FILE PHOTO: People queue to shop ahead of a nationwide 21-day lockdown called by the government to limit the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 28, 2020. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo

Zimbabwe recorded 12 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, its biggest daily number of deaths so far, to raise the country’s death toll to 53.

The deaths occurred in Harare and Midlands Provinces, the Ministry of Health and Child Care said in a statement Friday morning.

The country recorded 213 new COVID-19 cases, raising the country’s total to 3,092.

Of the new cases, eight are citizens who returned from the Diaspora while 205 are local cases.

Thirty-seven people recovered from the virus, taking the country’s total number of recoveries to 924.

The country has done a total of 129,899 COVID-19 tests to date.

The viral disease has since claimed the life of the country’s agriculture minister Perrance Shiri, who became the first cabinet minister in Zimbabwe to die of COVID-19.

Shiri, 65, died on Wednesday and will be buried at the National Heroes Acre in Harare on Friday under the World Health Organization guidelines.

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