Cape Town – The Zimbabwean government has extended the country’s adjusted level 4 lockdown by a further two weeks, saying more efforts are still needed to contain the third wave of Covid-19.
In a statement on Tuesday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said although there had been a notable decrease in the number of Covid-19 infections and deaths, more efforts were required to contain the pandemic.
Mutsvangwa urged people to get vaccinated and to fully embrace the standard measures of masking, social distancing, and sanitising.
“Members of the public are, therefore, urged to take this opportunity to get vaccinated.
“Government will continue to procure vaccines and avail them to those who are eligible and willing to be vaccinated.
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“It is also important that we continue to wear our masks, social distance and maintain all other preventive measures so that we overcome this pandemic as a nation,” Mutswangwa said.
The state-owned Herald newspaper said on Wednesday that the extension of the lockdown had been expected.
The report said the country recorded 27 deaths and 319 Covid-19 new cases on Monday.
Meanwhile, the average daily cases recorded in the past seven days fell to 352 from 366 that were recorded on Sunday, according to News Day.
COVID-19 update: As at 23 August 2021, Zimbabwe had 123 001 confirmed cases, including 107 759 recoveries and 4 293 deaths. To date, a total of 2 345 343 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/VByFzcbCjo
— Ministry of HealthZW (@MoHCCZim) August 23, 2021
The report said that the recovery rate stood at 88%.
The southern African country was put under the adjusted lockdown level 4 in June, with the government at the time slashing working hours for business and ordering companies to send 50% of their staff to work from home.
Under level four lockdown, businesses operate between 08:00 and 15:00, with a dusk to dawn curfew and ban on intercity travel.
Schools remain closed.
The government, however, keeps making reviews, with the latest adjustment allowing churches to reopen but only for fully vaccinated members.
More than 1.5 million people have been fully vaccinated so far.
With the country’s public hospitals ailing, observers said the actual number of infections and deaths from the coronavirus was much higher than the official statistics, as most patients preferred to get treatment at home, said Business Live.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
