HARARE-(MaraviPost)-Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced that the country will impose a nationwide lockdown for 21 days from Monday, March 30, 2020 to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The president made the announcement on Friday night on state broadcast.
He added that only state and health workers on duty will be exempted from the lockdown, while funeral gatherings should not involve more than 50 people with security forces deployed to enforce this.
“Some of the measures will be drastic and are sure to upset the daily routines of our lives. Should it become necessary, security forces will be deployed to assist in the enforcement of these measures,” said Mnangagwa.
Commenting on the matter, Nelson Chamisa, the main opposition leader and a strident critic of Mnangagwa and his government, said he supported the government’s decision as Zimbabwe was “in circumstances of a catastrophe.”
Currently Zimbabwe has reported five confirmed coronavirus cases and one death.
According to reports by Reuters, the decision is believed to trigger some economic breakdown to Zimbabwe’s economy that is already struggling with a drought, shortages of foreign exchange and a staggering unemployment rate of over 90%, forcing people to survive on informal trade.
