ZIMBABWE downgraded to \u201clevel 2\u201d on Monday after 35 days of its Covid-19 lockdown, returning to slightly more normal day-to-day life.<\/p>\n
Level 2 is set to run for two weeks. Thereafter, everything could return to business as usual.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, businesses are operating from 8am to 3pm, with the hope that a ZW$18bn ($720m) stimulus package promised to them by the government will be disbursed.<\/p>\n
Civic organisation Zimbabwe Vigil Diary fears that the rescue package could lead to a spike in inflation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt [the stimulus package] will come as usual from bleeding the people through massive inflation. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube is earlier reported to have warned that if Zimbabwe didn\u2019t get a big bailout, it would again have to resort to printing money,\u201d said the organisation.<\/p>\n
Last week Ncube said the lockdown greatly affected the country\u2019s economy, though President Emmerson Mnangagwa said: \u201cThe economy can die and it can be resuscitated now or in future \u2014 it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The informal sector, which contributes at least 48% of GDP and provides at least 80% of the working population with employment, remains closed.<\/p>\n
In the country\u2019s four major cities, traffic returned to the central business districts as formal employees went back to work.<\/p>\n
There were police checkpoints on all roads leading to the CBDs, with the police using their discretion to decide if one satisfied the requirements to proceed.<\/p>\n
With many failing to pay their bills their salaries during the complete lockdown, financial institutions on Monday were characterised by long queues.<\/p>\n
It was hard to maintain social distancing in queues outside premises, but upon entry one was subjected to temperature checking. A face mask is a must-have.<\/p>\n
\u201cI arrived before 6am and there were more than a hundred people ahead of me,\u201d said a man at a bank queue in Bulawayo at midday.<\/p>\n
He said the problems faced before the lockdown were still around \u2014 and could get worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe locked down when there were acute cash shortages. That\u2019s still the case, and fuel queues are now longer than they were during the lockdown period,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While the focus has mostly shifted to the economy, health experts have warned that releasing lockdown restrictions will increase infections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will lead to a trade-off in the equation of lockdown versus economy and deaths,\u201d said Dr Solwayo Ngwenya, the clinical director of Mpilo Central hospital in Bulawayo.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, that we have had local transmissions and people ignoring social-distancing measures in astonishing bravery against a killer they have no immunity, vaccine or treatment to is a tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n
To date, 11,647 screenings and tests have been conducted in Zimbabwe, with 34 infections, four deaths and five recoveries recorded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ZIMBABWE downgraded to \u201clevel 2\u201d on Monday after 35 days of its Covid-19 lockdown, returning to slightly more normal day-to-day life. Level 2 is set to run for two weeks. Thereafter, everything could return to business as usual. In the meantime, businesses are operating from 8am to 3pm, with the hope that a ZW$18bn ($720m) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1388,807],"class_list":["post-22807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-covid-19","tag-mthuli-ncube"],"yoast_head":"\n