Mnangagwa to address the country on lock-down today
President Mnangagwa is set to address the country on lock-down today. Zimbabwe like the rest of the world is currently fighting to minimise the spread of Coronavirus Covid-19.
Zimbabwe has been under lock-down for since the end of March 2020. Mining, Agriculture and other essential services were exempted and allowed to operate. The government recently announced that formal businesses are now allowed to operate which came as a relief to already struggling businesses. However, the partial lifting of the lockdown came with its challenges.
Public transport has been scarce with Harare residents waiting for transport for over four hours. This has forced more businesses to either hire alternative transport for their workforce or still have people working from home. Banks, other outlets in many suburbs are still shut down something that Zimbabwe at the present moment cannot afford.
More countries now easing the lock-down
Italy’s government has signed a decree that will allow travel to and from the country from 3 June, as it moves to ease its coronavirus lockdown measures. 31,600 died from the virus in the country, the third-highest figure behind the US and UK.
Boris Johnson published his plan to “give people hope” in the form of his long-awaited “roadmap” for getting Britain out of its coronavirus lockdown. The UK Prime Minister in a stark admission said it is possible that a vaccine for coronavirus may never be found, meaning the UK is in for a “long haul” in the fight against the virus. He is expected to announce the partial lifting of the lock-down with more people being encouraged to return to work.
Uganda began to loosen one of Africa’s strictest anti-coronavirus lockdowns on Tuesday after President Yoweri Museveni declared the infection “tamed.” The country of 42 million reported 97 confirmed cases and no deaths in 45 days of restrictions, and Museveni said it was now better equipped to trace and detect new infections faster.
In South Africa the Main opposition leader John Steenhuisen announced the DA party’s intention to take court action to challenge lockdown regulations, arguing that President Cyril Ramaphosa left South Africans ‘bitterly disappointed’ on Wednesday night by not announcing the reopening of the economy and by not ending the hard lockdown. South Africa is also expected to ease the lock-down to level 2 or 3.
As more and more countries are beginning to lift the lock-down restrictions and remains to be seen what Zimbabwe will decide. President Mnangagwa is set to address the country on lock-down today.