KWEKWE – A spike in new Covid-19 infections in Kwekwe – including the highly contagious B.1.617 variant first detected in Indian – has forced government to extend the city’s localised lockdown by two more weeks.
The initial lockdown was supposed to run for three weeks as was recommended by the National and District Rapid Response Teams operating in Kwekwe but health minister Constantino Chiwenga, who doubles as vice president, reduced it to two.
Despite the restrictions, the city went on to record 64 cases in the course of two weeks, from the initial 10, some of which have been confirmed to be the B.1.617 variant.
Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said on Tuesday “the nation is informed that Cabinet has approved that the lockdown in Kwekwe be extended by a further two weeks. The development comes in the wake of a surge in positive cases in Kwekwe, which to date has 74 cumulative cases, 70 active cases, 3 recoveries, and 1 death.
“It is highlighted that the Indian variant has been detected in some of the new cases.”
A survey in the Midlands second capital by ZimLive revealed a business-as-usual attitude with most merchants and traders in the Central Business District paying little if any attention to the measures, save for the 7 PM to 6 AM curfew.
The lockdown was put in place on the 21st of May 2021 after a resident in the city died on May 12, days after returning from India, and a week later on the 19th of May government confirmed that the variant, which scientists say is 50 percent more transmissible, was officially pronounced present in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe recorded 6 deaths from the respiratory illness on Tuesday, taking the country’s cumulative toll to 1,617 while cases increased to 39,321 after 83 new infections, daily figures from the health ministry showed.
