Hosia Mviringi
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced an extension of the current Covid-19 level four lockdown by another two weeks, to contain the rapid spread of the current highly infectious Delta variant of the virus.
In an announcement today, President Mnangagwa indicated that despite a visible slowdown in the number of new daily cases and deaths, Zimbabwe was taking a cautious approach in view of rising cases of new infections and related deaths in most neighbouring countries.
“Quite worrisome to us, are trends in countries next to us. In most neighbouring countries, infections have continued on the upward trend. We therefore need to remain vigilant now and not later if we are to contain the current third wave and avoid the fourth wave,” said President Mnangagwa in a televised address.
Zimbabwe experienced a spike in new Covid-19 cases and deaths towards the end of June 2021 with most Provinces in the country recording above 20 per cent increase signalling the beginning of a deadly third wave.
This prompted government to immediately reintroduce Level four lockdown as a measure to deal decisively with the emergency.
“Since then, the nation has made good progress in containing the resurgence and this third wave. The increase in new cases and deaths per day has gone down considerably in the past two weeks in all provinces, even to below 10 per cent in most provinces,” said President Mnangagwa.
President Mnangagwa said we need to build upon the dropping numbers and guard against complacency.
“This is a clear indication that the third wave and the pandemic in general is being brought under control,” said President Mnangagwa.
Regrettably, the number of new cases and resultant deaths still remain high for the nation to feel safe and to relax the guard.
With a realistic threat of a fourth wave still lingering on the horizon, the country can not pretend to be out of the woods as yet.
Thus strict preventive measures need to be continued until the numbers are at acceptably low levels to guarantee safety of citizens.
The country can not afford to take chances and take I calculated risk by relaxing control measures.
“Unfortunately the number of new daily cases remain unacceptably high. It is for this reason that the current Level four lockdown has to be extended by another two weeks. I urge us all to comply with requirements of this emergency.
Adherence to all prevention measures will enable the country to continue on the right path to recovery”.
The President urged all eligible citizens to get vaccinated against the disease.
President Mnangagwa said at the present moment; there was no excuse for anyone to delay getting their vaccine jab.
Zimbabwe has continued to lead Southern Africa in terms of vaccine acquisition and percentage of vaccinated population with more than 1.8 million citizens having received their first dose and a modest 1 million citizens fully vaccinated.
The country has a cumulative five million vaccine doses already delivered in the country as more continue to be purchased.
Zimbabwe has set itself target to attain herd immunity by end of year 2021.
This will be an important milestone in the country’s goal to return to normalcy in the shortest possible time and bring the economy back to it’s feet.
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