Police arrest 478 for unnecessary movt during Covid-19 lockdown

Harare (New Ziana)-Police on Thursday nabbed 478 people for not observing national Covid-19 lockdown regulations by making unnecessary movement while over 300 were also arrested for not wearing face masks.

In a statement, Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said law enforcement authorities have tightened enforcement of lockdown measures due to the recent spike in Covid-19 infections.

“478 people were arrested on 16th July 2020 for contravening section 4 (1) (a) of Statutory Instrument 83/20, ‘unnecessary movement during national lockdown except those exempted‘, whilst 304 people were arrested for failing to wear face masks. There is an increase in the number of people in the high density suburbs with shabeens and backyard beer drinking binges becoming commonplace.

“With immediate effect police and other security services have tightened enforcement of lockdown measures and we expect the public to cooperate, especially with the increase in new Covid-19 infections with 273 people testing positive for the virus on 16 July 2020,” he said.

He said the crackdown had also been extended to border posts where smuggling of goods was rife.

“Meanwhile, cumulative arrests for cross border truck drivers arrested for contravention of national lockdown regulations since 1 June 2020 is now at 79, six people were arrested in Nyamapanda Border area for illegal border crossing and one person was arrested at Beitbridge Border Post for smuggling. Total number of arrests since 16 May 2020 are now 507,” he said.

Police have also nabbed 29 returnees for absconding quarantine centres where they are being held for 21 days upon arrival in the country in line with Covid-19 regulations.

“The cumulative number of escapees throughout the country now stands at 268, whilst those arrested remain at 29. Since 30 March 2020, 104 349 people have been arrested for violating national lockdown measures.

“Let us all play our part in ensuring that we minimise the effects of this deadly pandemic through a reduction of unnecessary movements , observing social distance, wearing of masks, shunning of illegal beer outlets and gatherings,” said Nyathi.

The police warning comes in the wake of an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases, which stand at 1 420 including 24 deaths.

Zimbabwe has also seen the number of locally transmitted Covid-19 cases rising.

Government has signalled intention to re-tighten Covid-19 lockdown from the current level 2 in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.

New Ziana