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Africa Moyo

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will temporarily close its offices across the country from July 26 in response to rising Covid-19 cases, chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba has said.

The offices will reopen on August 8.

In a statement this morning, Justice Chigumba said: “This is a mitigatory measure to contain the further spread of the virus among our internal and external stakeholders.

“During this period, all staff members will be working remotely from their homes, save for critical issues that would require access to the offices.

“The Commission encourages its stakeholders to observe the national Covid-19 guidelines, World Health Organisation guidelines and ZEC Covid-19 policy during the break.”

New Covid-19 cases have been rising in recent weeks, with 2 301 having been recorded yesterday with 61 deaths.

Overall, Zimbabwe has now recorded 93 421 Covid-19 cases, 61 723 recoveries and 2 870 deaths since March last year when the pandemic broke out.

The vaccination programme, seen as a sure way of defeating the pandemic, is continuing and just over 2 million people had received either the first or both doses by yesterday.