Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has extended by 14 days a national lockdown to contain COVID-19 amid a surge in new infections and deaths over the past few days.
In an address on Tuesday evening, Mnangagwa said the extension of the Level 4 lockdown was necessary to “make it possible for the immediate acceleration of the vaccination programme throughout the country.”
“The plan is to immediately target one million people during this extended two-week Level 4 lock period,” Mnangagwa said.
He revealed that the inoculation programme would now be taken to communities to make “vaccination easily accessible to those seeking this essential service.”
“The additional two million vaccine doses that were received this past week are enough to vaccinate a million people with each receiving the recommended two doses,” he said.
The extension comes as Zimbabwe has registered an average of more than 2,000 new COVID-19 infections and 50 deaths per day during the past week.
The country recorded 2,661 new infections and 51 deaths on Tuesday alone, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.
The Zimbabwean leader blamed the spike in new infections on complacency among citizens, and urged people to observe the Level 4 lockdown regulations that were introduced in June.
The regulations include a dusk-to-dawn curfew and bans on inter-city travel and public gatherings such as weddings and religious services.
JN/APA