zim extends national lockdown

Harare (New Ziana)-President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday extended the national lockdown level 4 by another two weeks as the country seeks to ensure that deaths from Covid-19 further come down, while giving health professionals time to investigate and monitor the presence of new variants that could be in circulation.

Last month Zimbabwe reverted to the level 4 lockdown after witnessing a surge in infections of Covid-19.

Under level 4 lockdown, schools and churches are closed. Bars, gymnasiums and nightclubs are closed while restaurants are open to only takeaway patrons.

Although deaths from the virus have fallen the President said there was need to remain vigilant because every life lost matters.

“Unfortunately, the number of new cases and deaths per day remain unacceptably high.It is for this reason that the current lockdown level 4 has to be extended by another two weeks.I urge us all to comply with requirements of this emergency,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the average number of new Covid-19 cases fell to 968 on Sunday from 1004 the previous day.

As of August 8, 2021, Zimbabwe had recorded 116 327 cumulative Covid-19 cases and 3 900 deaths, with more than half of the fatalities being recorded in July during the third wave of the pandemic.

President Mnangagwa said the extension was also pushed by the fact that Covid-19 cases had not fallen in neighbouring countries with some already experiencing a fourth wave of the pandemic.

“Several countries globally and in our region are beginning to experience fourth pandemic wave.

“Quite worrisome to us are trends in countries that are next to us . In almost all of our neighbors, infections have shown an upward trend,” he said.

“We therefore need to remain vigilant now and not later , if we are to effectively control the current third wave and avoid a fourth wave,” said the President.

He said adherence to all Covid-19 prevention measures remained critical.
“Let us continue to social distance, to wash our hands with soap under running water , and to sanitize our hands with alcohol based sanitizers,” he said, adding everyone must be vaccinated against Covid-19.

New Ziana