Zimbabwe extends lockdown to 15 February

Ministry of Health and Child Care

Press Statement by Acting President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Minister of Health and Child Care, General (Rtd) Dr C.G.D.N Chiwenga on the extension of the Level 4 Lockdown measures by a further two (2) weeks to 15 February 2021.

EXTENSION OF LEVEL 4 NATIONAL LOCKDOWN MEASURES

1. Fellow Zimbabweans, we continue to see a high number of Covid 19 cases and, sadly, DEATHS. In the last week our new cases have been averaging about three hundred (300) per day, with deaths averaging twenty (20) per day. Cumulative cases as at 1st January, 2021 were fourteen thousand AND eighty- four (14 084) and deaths were three hundred and sixty-nine (369), As at 28th January, 2021 cumulative cases reached thirty-two thousand six hundred and forty -six (32 646) with deaths breaching the thousand mark to give us one thousand one hundred and sixty (1 160). The situation is clearly worrisome.
2. Government continues to intensify testing and patient care throughout the Provinces
3. We have a likelihood of new strains and variants circulating. These strains are more transmissible and infectious. We are doing genomic sequencing to see if these strains are in our environment. Results will be published as soon as we have them.
4. Government will soon be bringing in vaccines against Covid 19. A roll out plan and deployment strategy is being finalized. The nation will be kept informed on all these developments.
5. The level 4 National Lockdown that came into force on the 5th of January 2021 has stabilized our situation. In relative terms and since the lockdown, the number of infections have been decreasing substantially. Equally, our recovery rate has gone up from an all-time low of fifty-four percent to the current one which is seventy-five percent. Even though the numbers we are losing to the pandemic are falling, we bemoan the fact that Zimbabweans are dying at all. Any death is one death too many. Still, we need to stay the course by upping our vigilance. The war is not yet won.
6. It is in light of this that His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Commander-In- Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa, has decided to extend the level 4 National Lockdown by another two weeks to the 15th of February 2021.
7. The President fully appreciates the difficulties which come with this extension. Livelihoods are being disrupted yet we must save lives and our nation. We must not lose the momentum, which means:

– We must mask up

– Sanitize

– Maintain social distance

– Stay at home and,

– Get tested and if positive, self-isolate.

I thank you all for your cooperation. Together we will overcome.

God bless Zimbabwe

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