Zimbabwe’s authorities have announced a two-week localized lockdown in the Midlands city of Kwekwe following an ohtbreak of the B.1.617 strain of the Covid-19 virus.

The B.1.617 strain is believed to be driving infections in India, whose situation has reached humanitarian crisis levels.

According to statement by Health Minister Constantino Chiwenga, some the key tenets of the Kwekwe lockdown include:

– Curfew running from 7pm to 6 am.

– No visitors to all boarding schools and all day schools to observe strict Covid-19 school protocols.

– Opening of business hours run from 8 am to 5 pm.

– All bars, drinking places beerhalls and bottle stores to be closed.
All gatherings (weddings, church services and all other public and private groupings) are banned.

– All funerals must be supervised by health personnel and should not gather more than 30 people.

– Travellers through Kwekwe are strongly being advised to spend as little time as possible in Kwekwe during the next two weeks.

Earlier this month, genomic sequencing test was carried out on samples collected from a reported focalized outbreak in Kwekwe which was linked to a traveller from India on April 29, 2021.

The test conducted revealed that the B.1.617 variants predominantly from the Republic of India was detected at the focalized outbreak in Kwekwe.