Staff Reporter
President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday extended the COVID-19 lockdown measures for a further two weeks to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant that has ravaged the country.
In a statement, the President said that in the last two weeks, the nation had experienced a rise in COVID-19 and this has necessitated the extension of the lockdown by another 14 days.
“Over the last two weeks, the nation has experienced a 472% dramatic and exponential in new COVID-19 cases with 28 904 new cases being recorded last week alone compared to the 5 055 cases the week before. The genomic sequencing has linked all the cases to highly transmissible new Omicron variant,” said the President.
The President added that the Government has decided to extent the lockdown and enforce some new measures in an effort to reduce the spread of the disease. Under the new measures, all Government activities are to scale down to 30 percent except for essential services.
President Mnangagwa further announced that commuters are to wear face masks every time, while hotels and lodges were directed to provide room services to their clients as opposed to gathering in restaurants and bars without face masks.
The President added that businesses that are subject to annual shutdown were encouraged to close early for the festive season and every citizen eligible for COVID-19 vaccination should be vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa, announced yesterday after 43rd Cabinet session that regarding the National Vaccination Programme, as at 13 December 2021, a total of 3 956 020 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered, while 2 976 972 people had received their second dose.
She added that during the week, a total of 2,5 million Sinopharm doses were received from China and added that the Government has enough COVID-19 doses to inoculate every citizen.
