President Emmerson Mnangagwa has tightened COVID-19 containment measures as Zimbabwe battles a third wave of a pandemic that has so far claimed over 1,700 lives in the country since April 2020.
In an address to the nation on Tuesday, the Zimbabwean leader said the government had reviewed COVID-19 measures from Level 3 to Level 4 in response to a surge in the number of infections across the country.
Among the tighter measures introduced was a review the curfew hours from the previous 10pm (2000 GMT)-4am to 6.30pm-6am, as well as the reduction of business operating hours.
Businesses are now required to operate from 8am to 3.30pm compared to from 8am to 6pm previously.
In addition, companies are expected to decongest their places of operation by allowing a maximum of 40 percent of their personnel to work from the premises.
Inter-city travel has been banned, except for purposes of delivering goods and medicines.
The new measures come as Zimbabwe is experiencing a rapid increase in COVID-19 infections, with a daily average of more than 1,000 cases over the past week.
JN/APA