Harare – Zimbabwean authorities on Tuesday toughened virus curbs, ordering compulsory vaccinations for civil servants and reducing the number of workers reporting for duty in a bid to stem a rise in local transmission.
“All civil servants should be vaccinated,” Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.
She also said only 25% of government workers were required to physically report for duty, according to tweets posted on her ministry’s account.
Courts will only open for urgent cases.
A day earlier a government circular directed all ministries to reduce the number of staff coming to work from “40 percent to 10 percent”.
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The limited staff numbers exclude health workers and designated critical services.
Zimbabwe has seen a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases over the past two months, fuelled mainly by the Delta variant.
In the seven days to Tuesday, cases leapt from around 8 000 the previous week to more than 21 000.
The respiratory disease has so far claimed at least 2 697 lives and infected nearly 86 000 people.
Just over 1.1 million of Zimbabwe’s 14.8 million people have received a first dose, while just over 640 000 have had their second jab.
Zimbabwe has imposed a raft of measures to curb the spread of the pandemic including delaying opening of schools, reducing shopping hours, capping attendance at gatherings including funerals and banning intercity travel.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Getty Images
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