For Importers, Zimbabwe Extends COVID Lockdown,

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has extended the country’s lockdown by two weeks to contain the coronavirus, while working people complain that they can’t make a living. Mnangagwa’s response to them – it’s better for the economy to suffer than for the pandemic to kill people.

In a televised nationwide address, Mnangagwa said more people in Zimbabwe were getting infected by the coronavirus, and he feared the situation would get out control, hence a further extension of the lockdown, which began March 30.

“From the upward trajectory of infections it is evident that our country is yet to reach its peak [of the number of infection].… I appeal to all stakeholders to continue to appreciate and recognize that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic presents a continuously evolving health situation that requires extreme caution on the part of government in order to protect everyone in the entire nation. We would rather err on the side of caution and not on the side of recklessness. Let’s all play our part,” Mnangagwa said.

His words referred in part to protective practices to fight the spread of the coronavirus. In the address, Mnangagwa said all citizens were now supposed to wear face masks outside their homes.