1/6 The lockdown in Zimbabwe is on course to fail for a number of reasons. This is unsurprising because, from the beginning, govt misunderstood the mechanics of a lockdown which requires aggressive testing, contact tracing and effective social distancing.
2/6 The public, taking cue from govt, is not taking social distancing seriously: Cabinet still meets (other countries using video conferencing), president addressed a rally, met business community at State House and receives donations in person.
3/6 This was made worse by comments by Defense minister Oppah Muchinguri downplaying COVID-19 as a curse targeting the West, a senior government official calling it an “affluent” disease, ruling party MP Chinotimba saying it targets the “immoral”.
4/6 More importantly, the failure to conduct extensive testing and contact tracing compounds the lethargic social distancing induced by conflicting govt communication. We still do not know where the Bulawayo fatality contracted the virus.
5/6 The objectives of a lockdown are to (1) shut borders to new infections (2) contain community infections through (3) extensive testing and (4) tracing contacts of all positive cases.
6/6 By failing to ensure food security during the lockdown, GoZ has undermined social distancing as evidenced by cramped queues for basic commodities. If we continue on this path, we are heading for a seemingly sudden explosion of cases and deaths.
