Perrance Shiri, Zimbabwe’s agriculture minister died from the COVID-19 infection, becoming the first government official to succumb to the pandemic, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Thursday.
Shiri, who was a retired general who helped plot a coup that ousted Robert Mugabe in 2017, died in Wednesday.
The late liberation war veteran was declared a national hero and will be buried on Friday during a closed ceremony.
Mnangagwa said during a funeral wake at Shiri’s home in Harare that:
“Now that it is confirmed that Minister Shiri died of COVID-19, we will follow World Health Organisation regulations on how the funeral should proceed.”
Zimbabwe has recorded 2,879 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 40 deaths.
