The Government of Zimbabwe has extended the country’s lockdown by another 14 days to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a televised nationwide address that the country had not yet met conditions set down by the World Health Organization (WHO) to lift the lockdown. During the extended lockdown, formal businesses in Zimbabwe are allowed to re-open under strict conditions, while the country’s informal sector will remain closed. This also applies to churches, pubs, gyms and leisure facilities. Returning residents and international travellers are placed in a compulsary 21-day quarantine. The wearing of protective masks in public places is legally required. According to Zimbabwe’s Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo, masks could be anything from doeks to anything that could be used for purposes of being a barrier from the nose and mouth to the direct world [src.].Zimbabwe first imposed a three-week lockdown on 30 March 2020 and then extended that until 03 May 2020, prior to the latest extension.
