HARARE – Health and Child Care Deputy Minister John Mangwiro says Zimbabwe will not be swayed by events abroad to dump its policy on the compulsory wearing of face masks insisting the country has its own unique approaches to combating the spread of the pandemic.

He was responding to a question by MDC-Alliance Senator Elias Mudzuri who asked the minister during the question and answer session in the Senate on Thursday why Zimbabwe maintained the policy when worst affected in European countries and America have relaxed the policy after administering vaccination on their citizens.

Mangwiro said Zimbabwe will take a scientific approach to the situation.

“…As government, we are saying we stick to science, we want to follow science which is now there. We do not necessarily follow what is trending on television or on Facebook.

He added, “We still believe and we also know that the virus is lethal; we cannot take it for granted.”

Mangwiro said the country’s stance on Covid-19 was informed by the recommendations of committees within his ministry that sit weekly to assess the Covid-19 impact in the country.

The Minister said the virus spreads faster through the nostril and as such, the nose should always be covered through continuous wearing of masks.

He urged citizens to take vaccination seriously, adding that infections were still taking place in the country.

“We definitely want to encourage people to continue putting on their masks and we do not encourage people to follow what is trending in other countries because we do not know what science they have, how much they have vaccinated their people and what else they are doing that we are not doing.

“What we are seeing is that we find it necessary that people continue to get protected against the virus.”

He added, “So, we want to continue to encourage people to get vaccinated and continue to put on masks as before until we get evidence scientifically that we should now put down our guard but for now, we want to continue following science which protected us in the past.”

Zimbabwe has had just over 250 000 cumulative cases since outbreak in March 2020 and can be regarded as safer territory compared to some western countries that have seen up to three million cases coupled with massive fatalities.

A lot of Zimbabweans only wear masks within their CBDs or town centres where arrests are more common.

Many in residential areas seem to have dumped masks.

Government officials have also been observed in some public events not wearing their masks.