Harare (New Ziana) – President Emmerson Mnangagwa has maintained the country at the current level two lockdown, but introduced a few changes including scaling down all government activities to 30 percent in response to the rising Covid-19 infections.
He said over the past two weeks, the country had recorded a 472 percent increase in new COVID-19 cases, with 28 904 new cases being recorded last week alone, compared to the 5 055 cases the week before.
President Mnangagwa said genomic sequencing had linked all the cases to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
“Though the majority of the positive cases have mild disease, the numbers are very high, and the proportion of the moderate to severe disease is likely to overwhelm our case management capacity, given our acute depletion of specialized human resources in our health institutions,” he said.
“Consequently, Government extends the current lockdown for a further two weeks, with the following measures in place: Scaling down all government activities to 30 percent, except for essential services.
“Commuters to wear face masks in both public and private transport settings, coupled with strict law enforcement of this critical public health measure and hotels and lodges are directed to provide room services to their clients, as opposed to gathering in restaurants and bars without face masks.”
The President added; “Businesses that are subject to annual shutdown are encouraged to close early for the festive season, at least by Unity Day 22 December, 2021.”
President Mnangagwa also encouraged those who are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination to do so, including getting the booster shot for those who had already been vaccinated.
“Members of the public are encouraged to continue adhering to all the recommended public health preventive measures, such as wearing face masks properly, avoiding closed spaces, avoiding crowded gatherings, washing of hands with soap and running water, sanitizing and social distancing,” he said.
New Ziana