Zimbabwe authorities arrested 26,000 people for allegedly flouting COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
According to local media reports, Zimbabwean Police arrested 10,000 people over the last week for failing to wear face masks in public and 16,000 others for flouting lockdown restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the disease.
The recent arrests bring the total number of people arrested since March 2020 for flouting lockdown regulations to 309 061.
Most of the offenders were ordered to pay $500 fine as an admission of guilt fine.
A hard lockdown came into force on 5 January after cases doubled last month because of festive season gatherings and traffic from neighbouring South Africa, which is experiencing a severe second wave of the virus.
Currently more than 9,000 people have Covid-19.
Jenfan Muswere, the Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services, told a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that Harare and Bulawayo continue to lead in both the number of new Covid-19 infections and deaths.
On Tuesday, 943 new cases and 23 deaths were recorded across the country with Harare recording 401 new infections.
“What is worrying is that within a week 9 993 people were arrested for not wearing masks and this points to negligence by some members of the society who are not taking this virus seriously and this calls for behavior change,” Muswere said.
“Whilst the virus might not kill offenders, it has a potential to affect the next person who is a loved one, a mother, a father, a colleague, a sister or a brother.
“As of 6th January 2021, a total of 309 061 arrests were made countrywide for flouting lockdown regulations, indicating an increase of 16 286, from the 292 775 recorded in the last briefing.
“It is evident that there is need for national discipline and self-prudence as we wage a war against this invisible enemy. We cannot afford to have a lackadaisical approach in this fight as it will annihilate us”.
Healthcare workers have been hit by shortages of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) as the number of patients increases.
In total, there have been more than 34,000 Covid-19 cases and almost 600 deaths since the first case was detected in March.
