The Health Ministry will arrange the times and places for
testing if contacted by employers.
The testing was postponed after most employers reported at
the beginning of the week that there were problems in finding test kits or
arranging testing, hence the more central role the Government is now taking to
help arrange tests.
The amendment, in Statutory Instrument 102, the seventh
amendment to the original lockdown regulations, and issued by Minister of
Health and Child Care Obidiah Moyo, states that the tests must use the rapid
results diagnostic test or any other test approved by the minister.
The regulations assume that businesses open from today,
although the 14-day clock starts from a later re-opening date if a business can
prove to an enforcement officer that they did open after today.
Employers may arrange, said the amendment, with enforcement
officers for the testing to take place at an agreed time at the workplace or at
any other agreed place, and to make these arrangements they may contact the
Ministry of Health Call Centre or the Ministry of Information Call Centre;
The Health Minister can also order retesting done at
intervals of not less than 30 days.
In the meantime employers have to ensure that staff
entering their premises have their hands sanitised and their temperature
checked.
Evidence of tests has to be documented and produced on
demand to enforcement officers. Businesses which fail to prove staff were
tested within 14 days from today, or from the actual re-opening if this was
later, can be closed and staff sent home within the hour. The business cannot
then re-open until all staff deemed exempted from the lockdown have been tested
and proof can be given.
Anyone hindering an enforcement officer, or any employer
staying open after being ordered to close, is guilty of an offence and this can
attract the standard lockdown breach penalties of a fine up to level 12,
imprisonment up to a year, or both. Herald
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