Residents yesterday continued to defy the lockdown order as
police arrested 182 people throughout the country for the violations at a time
when over 1 000 visitors from countries with confirmed Covid-19 cases are in
Bulawayo.
No Covid-19 case has been confirmed in the city. Countrywide,
there are eight confirmed cases and one death.
During Day Three of the lockdown yesterday, more people
continued to defy the lockdown order. Even though Government has said there must be no inter-city
travel, scores of hitchhikers were on the country’s highways boarding vehicles
leaving Bulawayo.
Some people were catching rides in haulage trucks,
especially along the Victoria Falls, Gwanda, Plumtree and Harare highways as
there were few cars on the roads and public transportation was scarce.
There was also an increase in the number of vehicles in
Bulawayo’s CBD, with scores of people roaming the streets.
At supermarkets and Zesa offices in the CBD, there were
long queues as people continued to look for basic commodities and electricity
coupons.
Other signs of continued defiance in the city were of
people selling fuel from illegal selling points along the streets.
Some youths were spotted in the city taking selfies and
looking relaxed, oblivious of the prevailing lockdown. They were hostile when
approached by the news crew for interviews.
In Emakhandeni suburb near MaHadebe Beer Garden, a group of
men was seen skinning a goat while others were drinking beer outside the
confines of their yards, while children played football in the dusty streets of
the same township.
More people were seen carrying hoes and some fresh produce
suggesting that they were coming from their fields as it is just about harvest
time for a lot of families that practice urban farming.
When Chronicle spoke to some people who were seemingly
defying the lockdown, most of the responses bordered around boredom and the
difficulty of starting a new routine.
In a telephone interview, the Minister of Transport and
Infrastructural Development Minister Engineer Joel Biggie Matiza said movement
from one city to the other remains suspended since the lockdown started on
Monday, even for Zupco buses.
He said transporters and members of the public who were
travelling to other towns and cities were breaking the law. The Minister,
however, said there was nothing that his ministry could do to people found
travelling as it was not in his jurisdiction “to chase after people.”
He said the Zupco intercity travel was temporarily
suspended for the lockdown period. “As a Ministry, we have suspended all
intercity travel for public transporters as a means of ensuring that people
adhere to the regulations of the 21-day lockdown. It is unfortunate that people
are being defiant, we call on public transporters to abide by these guidelines
as we have also suspended the Zupco intercity travel scheme. unfortunately, we
cannot do much about defiant people who are going on highways to hike and it is
not within my ministry to act on that,” he said.
For the defiance, police said they had arrested 182 people
as health experts warn of the catastrophic impact of not abiding by the
lockdown.
Yesterday, police said they had noted that some
non-essential civil servants are abusing pass letters so that they move
aimlessly in violation of Covid-19 mitigation measures.
“The police have so far arrested 182 people for operating
shebeens, public drinking, disorderly conduct and committing various traffic
offences. Police have also observed aimless movements by motorists with some
claiming to be looking for fuel or shopping for basic commodities. Such
motorists are advised that the law provides for them to do the shopping at centres
within a 5-kilometre radius of their residence,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
He said Statutory Instrument 83 of 2020 will be fully
employed to arrest anyone violating Covid-19 regulations.
“The police have noted with concern the proliferation of
letters from junior employees and staff from various institutions and
Government departments/ministries pleading to be allowed to pass through police
roadblocks and check points. This compromises efforts to curb the Covid-19
pandemic,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
“Please take note that, only heads of
institutions/departments or senior officials have authority to seek exemptions
for members of staff engaged in essential services. Those who want to take
advantage and influence the police yet they are not part of the exempted
essential service providers will not be entertained.”
He said even those queuing for basic commodities will not
be spared from following the laid down Covid-19 guidelines.
Mpilo Central Hospital clinical director Dr Solwayo
Ngwenya, said if the public continue defying the lockdown measures, they will
lobby Government to impose tougher measures which will keep people at home.
Dr Ngwenya said the public should take seriously measures
put in place to stop the spread of Covid-19.
“We urge people to stay at home and there is need for
education. Ignorance will lead to a huge number of people dying in Africa,
people are ignorant. We may be forced to call for more stringent lockdown
measures if people do not want to comply with regulations. We may have to ask
Government to put serious measures which will allow very few people to move,
making the lockdown even harder than this. We would rather have people being
locked down than being sick and dying,” said Dr Ngwenya.
He said what is even worrying for countries such as
Zimbabwe are resource constraints.
“We are not going to be able to handle this disease because
we are resource constrained. If we look at numbers coming from other countries,
they are in winter and we are a few weeks before winter. Once this thing is
here, for example we don’t have enough ambulances to go and collect patients,”
he said.
Bulawayo mayor Solomon Mguni told a full council meeting
yesterday that he was glad that Bulawayo does not have any cases of people who
have tested positive to the Covid-19 virus. He said the Emergency Preparedness
Team has been active on the ground conducting surveillance, tests and health
education.
“The rapid response teams in Bulawayo were activated on the
27th February 2020 when the first rumour was received and we have been making
follow ups to date. The number of people who have been followed up under this
have been 36, while 21 specimens have been collected with 11 negative and 10
pending (sent between 30 and 31 march 2020). It should be noted that the
turnaround time of the national microbiology laboratory has been approximately
48 hours,” said the mayor.
He said the city has also been conducting travellers
surveillance from February to March 2020.
“There was a noticeable increase in the influx of
travellers reported by the ports of entry from February 498 to March 2020 627.
The total number of visitors that have come into Bulawayo from areas with
confirmed Covid-19 cases and possibly active local transmission is 1 125. 100
percent of all travellers that came into the country during the month of
February 2020 have been followed up at least once and are all asymptomatic (of
a condition or a person) producing or showing no symptoms) the list of travellers
that came into the country during the month of March 2020 was received at the
end of this past week. it has a total of 627 travellers that are currently
being followed up by city’s environmental health practitioners,” he said.
Chronicle
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