HARARE,– The Zimbabwean government on Saturday restored a curfew and banned all gatherings, except for funerals, for 30 days as the country battles to contain a surge in COVID-19 infections.
As was the case during the initial lockdown restrictions in March 2020, only essential services such as hospitals, pharmacies and supermarkets will remain open.
However, these services will now operate between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The country has of late witnessed a high number of local infections amid fears that the second wave of the pandemic will be more deadly than the first.
As of Saturday, Zimbabwe recorded 14,491 cases and 377 deaths with about 1,400 infections reported this week.
The gatherings that have been banned include weddings and churches services, while bottle stores, gyms, and restaurants will once again be closed.
The maximum number of people who can attend funerals has been reduced to 30 from 100.
Addressing a press conference, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who is also minister of health and child care, said existing COVID-19 preventive health measures will be strictly enforced. Among these are the correct wearing of face masks, social distancing, hand sanitization and temperature checks.
He warned that offenders would be prosecuted.
Chiwenga said only key commerce services are allowed to operate such as mining, manufacturing and agriculture, while the rest of formal and informal businesses are suspended for 30 days with effect from Jan. 5.
Inter-provincial and inter-city transport services will also be restricted only to essential services and commercial services.
He said people must stay at home save for buying food and medicines and transporting sick relatives.
Cross border traders have also been stopped forthwith, save for commercials and transit cargo related to essential and critical services.
Chiwenga, who doubles as the health minister, also announced the following measures:
- Stiff lockdown with immediate effect
- Only essential services to remain open
- Gatherings of not more than 30 people at funerals
- Weddings, funerals, gyms, restaurants, bars banned for 30 days
- Correct wearing of face masks, social distancing, hand sanitisation and temp checks to be strictly enforced
- Other commercial services mining, manufacturing and agriculture to operate as before
- Open from 8am and close at 3pm
- People must stay at home save for buying food or medicines.
- Curfew 6pm to 6am
- Air transport to continue as before
- Formal business and registered informal traders suspended for 30 days
- Only exam classes are to open now
- facilities and national parks to operate subject to usual health conditions
- Cross boarded traders banned save for commercial and transit cargo for essential and critical services
- Restaurants and bars closed for 30 days.
Experts also say authorities needed to move with renewed vigour to revise and monitor the current coronavirus restrictions, to avert a looming catastrophe among many complacent communities.
This comes as the government has deferred the opening of schools this year, following rising Covid-19 deaths and infections in the country.
It also comes amid a worrying slip of discipline among many Zimbabwean communities, with a New Year’s eve gathering in Harare’s high density suburb of Mbare, for example, highlighting the growing lack of vigilance that locals now have regarding the deadly respiratory disease.
Amid the rapidly increasing local infections and deaths, health experts warned yesterday that the new wave of the lethal virus could have dire consequences for the country – especially in the next two months, unless there was a marked change in attitudes by ordinary people.
The experts also feared that the new Covid-19 strain, which is causing havoc in neighbouring South Africa, was already in the country – especially in the southern parts of Zimbabwe.
Among the experts concerned by the rapid national spread of the second wave is the secretary-general of the Senior Hospital Doctors Association (SHDA), Aaron Musara, who warned that the country was perilously close to being devastated by the disease.
“Our end of January to beginning of February period does not look good when one looks at the current spread of the disease.
“There is a great need for the enforcement of Covid-19 mitigation measures, while encouraging the public to observe the preventative measures for their own good,” Musara said.
On his part, the president of the Zimbabwe Nurses Association (Zina), Enock Dongo, also warned that the disease could spiral out of control by March unless authorities took tough fresh measures to mitigate the growing ill-discipline by ordinary people.
“The issue is that we may fail to contain Covid-19 if it comes in the rampant way like what is happening in South Africa. To be honest, our health system is in shambles and cases are rising.
“Our health system does not have the capacity to handle a huge number of patients at a time because we have no adequate infrastructure and our frontline workers are not adequately equipped,” Dongo said.
He called for stronger measures by authorities, such as tightening border controls and banning flights from countries perceived to be epicentres of the new Covid-19 strain, including South Africa.
“We have seen other countries cancelling flights to and from South Africa … yet we have allowed people in without Covid-19 negative test results into the country.
“People also no longer self isolate. We are being reckless as a country. It’s a time bomb,” Dongo further told the Daily News.
He also bemoaned the disdain that he said was being shown by ordinary people towards the disease – which indifference was dangerous for the country.
“It’s a pity that most people up to now do not believe that Covid-19 is real. There is a dangerous low risk perception that I am seeing, especially in the rural areas that we are visiting.
“It has become increasingly dangerous as most people who came from South Africa have visited relatives in the rural areas,” Dongo warned further.
“Government is also relaxed. There is a need to enforce the restrictive measures as we have seen in South Africa.
“Public transport is another super spreader. Buses are being loaded to full capacity, with no physical distancing.
“Zupco buses are being filled to capacity. We see the commuting public packed in poorly ventilated commuter omnibuses. Yes, the government has banned kombis, but we are seeing them on the roads.
“The government has to clamp down on all this. Night clubs are being opened, the curfew is not being respected. Clearly we are being reckless as a nation. This will surely cost us,” Dongo also told the Daily News.
This comes as a total of 363 known people had died in the country by New Year’s eve – among them prominent Bulawayo businessman Worthwhile Mugabe and Zanu PF European Union and United Kingdom chairperson, Masimba Tawengwa – both of whom became the latest high profile people to succumb to the lethal virus.
Former MDC interim leader, Thokozani Khupe, also announced on Wednesday that she had contracted the novel coronavirus, a few days after she had attended the party’s extra-ordinary congress in Harare.
All this also comes as most of the upmarket hospitals in the country are said to be flooded with people showing symptoms of Covid-19 – although authorities are yet to confirm this.
It also comes as the government has copped a lot of flak over an illegal New Year’s eve gathering in Mbare, where thousands of people – with some of them without masks – gathering for an unsanctioned music jamboree featuring various township artistes.
The illegal gathering has heightened calls for the re-introduction of tougher lockdown measures like what has happened in South Africa.
On Monday, South Africa president Cyril Ramaphosa re-introduced tougher restrictions as his country’s coronavirus infections breached the one million mark.
Ramaphosa also wholly banned alcohol sales, re-introduced a tougher curfew and imposed hefty fines on those breaching lockdown measures, including a mandatory jail term of six months on people caught without wearing face masks.
He also readily admitted that South Africa was “at an extremely dangerous point in the pandemic and action had to be taken.”
