Zimbabwe extends lockdown before easing virus curbs

• The landlocked southern African country has reported 40 infections of coronavirus, including four deaths.
• The partial lockdown imposed on March 30 was due to end on May 3.

HARARE: Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday extended a COVID-19 lockdown for two weeks from Monday ahead of a gradual easing of restrictions.

The landlocked southern African country has reported 40 infections of coronavirus, including four deaths.

The partial lockdown imposed on March 30 was due to end on May 3.

But "noticing that there is now a gradual infection increase, the lockdown will continue for the next 14 days," Mnangagwa told journalists at State House in the capital Harare.

However coronavirus restrictions will be relaxed to allow large corporations to operate -- under strict conditions.

"All people must wear masks of any type, including home-made ones, outside their homes," the president said.

Previously wearing masks in public places was not mandatory.

Mnangagwa further instructed companies to ensure mandatory rapid diagnostic testing of all employees, as well as social distancing and sanitisation in the workplace.

Large gatherings of more than 50 people and operations by small and informal businesses remain banned.

The president praised the ban on unnecessary movement, saying it had proved effective in containing the spread of the disease.

But cautioned that a continued partial lockdown was "critical" and that government "would rather err on the side of caution and not on the side of recklessness."

Zimbabwe last week observed thee 40th anniversary of its independence without the usual celebrations, while May Day went by without the traditional rallies.