JUST IN: Lockdown extension gazetted Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga

Bulawayo Bureau
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care, has gazetted the extension of the Level Four national lockdown by a further two weeks.

This gives effect to the address by President Mnangagwa on Monday in which he announced the extension of the lockdown as a means of combating Covid-19 in the country.

The new measures are contained in Statutory Instrument 42 of 2021 published yesterday by VP Chiwenga.
According to Section 2 (a) of SI 42 of 2021, the Level Four national lockdown will be in force until March 1, 2021.

The SI also extended opening times for businesses and industries allowed to operate from between 8AM and 3pm to between 8am and 5pm.
Curfew hours will now run from 8PM to 5.30am.

The SI sets out strict rules that have to be observed including a ban on social gatherings, intercity and interprovincial commuting and limiting funeral gatherings to 30 people.

It also states that courts are now only open to deal with urgent cases and those attending hearings must undergo Covid-19 testing. No one is allowed to sit in the court gallery.

The informal sector is also allowed to reopen subject to meeting World Health Organisation protocols.

The SI also notes that Part IV (“Phased Relaxation of National Lockdown”) shall continue to be in force for the period of the Level Four national lockdown

“It is hereby notified that the Minister of Health and Child Care has, in terms of section 8(1) of the Public Health (Covid-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) Regulations, 2020 (published in Statutory Instrument 77 of 2020) made the following order,” read the SI.

“The Public Health (COVID-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) (National Lockdown) (No. 2) Order, 2020, published in Statutory Instrument 200 of 2020 (hereinafter called “the principal order”), is amended in section 25 (“Curfew, limitation of business hours and other measures affecting businesses”) of the principal order is amended by the repeal subsection (2) and the substitution of— “(2) There shall be in force a curfew beginning at 8 AM and ending at 5.30AM on the following day.”

President Mnangagwa noted on Monday that while the national lockdown goals are now within reach, the numbers of active cases and deaths remained high hence the need to bring them down further.

He said the lockdown extension should result in a great reduction in the pool of infected people, enable health personnel to investigate and monitor the presence and circulation of new variants

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