Image: UN

Faizel Patel – 30/06/2021

A Zimbabwean journalist says the country has gone into level four lockdown to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.

Tendai Marima was speaking to Radio Islam about the COVID situation as other countries including South Africa battles the third wave of the new Delta variant.

The southern Africa nation, which has recorded more than 47,000 cases since the outbreak last year, has seen its 7-day average infection rate increasing five times to 727 compared to two weeks ago.

Marima says Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew, banned inter-city travel and cut business hours with immediate effect in response to increasing COVID-19 infections.

“This is basically a level 4 lockdown which we previously experienced when the Coronavirus was first announced and also in January and also in January when cases started to spike up. So right now because we’re going through a third wave of rising infections, the country has decided to lockdown again.’

Marima says there has been a massive drive to get Zimbabweans vaccinated for the Coronavirus.

“There are some concerns because later this year Zimbabwe was expecting to receive its first doses of vaccines such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca. However, the government turned down those offers because we didn’t have the freezing facilities available.”

Marima says about 3.5% of Zimbabwe’s population who are over 18-year-old have so far received the COVID-19 jab.

The lockdown measures in Zimbabwe will be in effect for two weeks, after which they would be reviewed.

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)

Listen to the interview with Tendai Marima