Zimbabwe’s Health ministry invited tenders for the supply of oxygen to its medical facilities as the number of coronavirus infections surge. The request was made for hospitals already facing strain from a shortage of beds and equipment, which threaten to overwhelm the nation’s weak public-health system. The tender closes on January 18, the ministry said in an advertisement flighted in the State-owned The Herald newspaper. Portia Manangazira, the director for epidemiology and disease control in the ministry, declined to comment. Zimbabwe has recorded 24 256 cases of COVID-19 and 589 fatalities, according to Health ministry data.— Bloomberg