Thursday 9 July 2020

FULL LOCKDOWN LOOMS FOR HRE, BYO


THE Government has hinted on enforcing a full-scale lockdown in Harare and Bulawayo as the number of people confirmed with the Covid-19 pandemic in the two cities continue to escalate.

In the past couple of days, the two cities have recorded 86 cases with Bulawayo having the bulk of the new cases at 81. To date Harare remains the epicenter of the pandemic in the country, with 250 cases while Bulawayo is second with 154 confirmed cases.

Posting on his Twitter account on Wednesday, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Mr Nick Mangwana said with the number of new cases in the two cities, if government considers more drastic measures to contain the pandemic a full-scale lockdown will only apply in the two cities. 

“Harare has the vast majority of positive Covid-19 cases. Yesterday (Tuesday), Bulawayo recorded 30 of the 53 positive cases. If there is any scaling up of containment measures, a more surgical approach is better. It means full scale lockdown should only apply to Harare and Bulawayo,” wrote Mr Mangwana.

A couple of months ago, President Mnangagwa downscaled the national lockdown top level two thereby allowing the opening of industry and commerce. The President further declared that the lockdown will be extended indefinitely with fortnightly reviews being given to assess the achievements or lack of in government’s fight against the spread of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, according to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Health and Child Care, as of Wednesday the country recorded 98 new confirmed cases bringing the national total to 885.

“Ninety-eight cases tested positive for Covid-19 today (Wednesday). These include returnees from Botswana (28), South Africa (22), Swaziland (one) and 47 local cases who are all isolated. 

“43 of the local cases are contacts of known confirmed cases, investigations are underway to establish the source of infection of the other four local cases. To date the total number of confirmed cases is 885, recovered 206, active 670 and nine deaths since the onset of the outbreak on 20 March 2020,” reads the update.

Bulawayo tops the number of positive cases that were recorded on Wednesday at 51. Sunday News

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