Four laboratory staff members at Zimbabwe’s Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital have appeared in court for allegedly issuing fake COVID-19 clearance certificates. New Zimbabwe reports that Kudzai Chishaya, Gumisai Chiroodza, Nelson Mashanga and Wedzerai Manyere were remanded in custody.
Magistrate Gladmore Mushowe rejected their bail applications, saying they were facing serious charges. The prosecution claims that between 3 August and 2 November they “connived” with a fifth suspect, Mercy Banguza, to issue counterfeit COVID-19 certificates to 48 individuals. Banguza is still at large.
The report says the alleged offences were committed at a time the testing for COVID-19 had been suspended at the hospital as the GeneXpert machine used in the processing of swab samples did not have a functional cartridge..
Evidence reported by investigators includes names of people tested for the respiratory disease that were retrieved from the laboratory’s information management system bearing the accused persons’ passwords as creators, analysts or verifiers.
Also, according to the state, some of the fake documents were recovered.