Zimbabwe on Tuesday extended its Level Two lockdown by two more weeks to encourage more people to get vaccinated and to protect the nation against a possible fourth wave outbreak.
Although the nation’s vaccination today picked up, the government still believes it can attain herd immunity by the end of this year.
Over 3.5 million have received one dose and more than 2.7 million are now fully vaccinated.
Although the country has a recovery rate of 96%, the number of people recovering over the past week has been on the decline with more cases coming up resulting in the number of active cases rising to 470.
In her post-cabinet briefing earlier today, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said: ‘The number of vaccines administered during the week ending 15 November was 144 253 up from 114 873 last week.
She said that this was an indication that the provincial vaccination blitz in October was yielding the desired results and would be strengthened.
She emphasized that the “focus will continue to be on achieving the end of year national and global target of total population coverage of 60% and 40%, respectively,” she said.
“To this end, members of the public are urged to present themselves for vaccination as Provincial Vaccination Teams have ramped up implementation of their respective District Vaccination Micro-Plans, including mobilisation campaigns.
“On the procurement of vaccines, it is advised that 435 600 doses were received on 5 November 2021, bringing the cumulative number of vaccines received to date to 13.258 million doses.
“Government takes this opportunity to assure the nation that most of the country’s vaccines still have some years to go before expiry,” she said.