Zimbabwe's health ministry has launched a two-week lockdown on the central city of Kwekwe and surrounding rural areas, after detecting the coronavirus variant dominant in India, reports MedicalBrief.
There has been one known death.
The lockdown will start Friday and a curfew from 7 pm to 6 am. Bars will shutter and public gatherings — including weddings and church services — are banned. Funerals can proceed, but will be supervised by health officials, the ministry announced in a statement.
Businesses can operate between 8 am and 5 pm Visitors will not be allowed in schools. Travellers through Kwekwe are strongly being advised to spend as little time as possible in Kwekwe during the next two weeks.
Zimbabwe had stopped imposing restrictions after infection rates went down following a resurgence in December and January. The country has reported a total of 38,635 coronavirus cases and almost 1,600 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The country has vaccinated 615,296 people with a first dose of vaccines, mainly the Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, while 252,100 had received a second dose, according to official figures.