Harare – Zimbabwean authorities on Monday began enforcing a three-week lockdown in its fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) after the disease left one person dead and infected six others.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a 21-day “total” lockdown from Monday curtailing movement within the country, shutting most shops and suspending flights in and out of Zimbabwe.

Police mounted checkpoints on routes leading to Harare’s central business district, stopping cars and turning away pedestrians who had no authorisation to be in the area.Elsewhere, truckloads of metropolitan and national police armed with batons were on patrol, ordering people back to their homes.

“We don’t want to see people here on the streets. We don’t want to see people who have no business in town just loitering,” a police officer said through a loud hailer. “Everyone to their homes.”

Her colleagues, in riot gear, dispersed people standing in small groups at the Copacabana minibus terminus, which is usually abuzz with people, including foreign currency dealers.

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