Zimbabwe has allowed mining companies to resume production as it extended the national lockdown by two weeks to May 3 in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
“I have now directed the Ministries of Health and Child Care, and that of Mines and Mining Development to work closely to ensure the workforce in the mining sector is immediately screened and tested ahead of resumed operations,” said president Emmerson Mnangagwa in a live television broadcast.
“Further, to the extent possible, I have directed that workers in the mining sector remain within the precincts of their accommodation at workplaces for the duration of the lockdown.”
Image credit: pixel2013 (Pixabay)
He said that manufacturers would also resume work at limited capacity.
Mnangagwa said the lockdown would continue as the southern African country had not yet met conditions set down by the World Health Organisation to lift the measures.
Zimbabwe has now recorded 25 Covid-19 confirmed cases and three deaths from 2 851 tests.
State-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) had downscaled its operations in Marange in compliance with the country’s lockdown directive.
Zimbabwe is planning to more than triple its diamond output to 11 million carats by 2023 from 3.2 million carats in 2018.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
