The Covid-19 pandemic has seen a surge in cases in Zimbabwe with 26 people having succumbed to the virus. The country has seen over 1 800 cases so far and given the testing regime in place it is almost certain the real number of people with the virus is much much higher than this. The rise in cases has started to affect businesses that had opened. The latest case is that of Econet which was forced to announce the closure of all their shops after some employees tested positive for Covid-19.

NOTICE TO CUSTOMERS

Dear Valued Customer,
We regret to announce that some of our staff members tested positive to COVID-19 and are now quarantined. Strict measures around contact-tracing and testing have been taken on these cases as guided by the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
There has been a spike in COVID-19 cases across the country in recent days and as an organisation, we place our priority in the safety of our staff, customers and the public at large.

We, therefore, wish to inform you that all Econet Shops will be temporarily closed, effective Wednesday, July 22, 2020 until further notice. In the interim, we will disinfect and sanitise all our shops to make them safe for our staff and customers upon re-opening at a date to be announced.
We urge our customers to use the following alternative digital channels to access our services during this period:
• Toll-Free Number: 111 • WhatsApp: 0771222904 – 905 • Facebook: @econetzimbabwel @elevateyouthzw, @econetconnectedlifestyle • Twitter: @econet support, @econetzimabwe, @elevateyouthzw • Email: [email protected] or [email protected] • Skype: Econet Customer Care
As we continue the fight this pandemic, we encourage our customers, stakeholders and the nation to keep taking the necessary precautions in preventing the spread of the disease. These include washing hands regularly for at least 20 seconds, wearing a face mask, covering your mouth when coughing, maintaining social distance and self-isolation for those who suspect they are infected by the disease.
We thank you for your continued support, cooperation and patience during these challenging and uncertain times. COVID-19 is real.
Please stay safe and #MaskUpZimbabwe! Econet Wireless
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Econet is far from the only business that has been affected. Chinhoyi University of Technology is also now going to be closed following positive tests for Covid-19. A hospital in Zvishavane is now closed. People have been urged to treat their neigbhours as being infected but have ignored that advice but as things stand this mantra is slowly turning from being an assumption one has to make in order to stay safe to being a fact.

It is disheartening to note that government testing remains lacklustre and they continue to refer to unknown sources of infection. The testing strategy on the ground is such that it will be hard to unearth community clusters lurking in some neighbourhoods unless something dramatic happens. In fact a good number of the those who have died from Covid-19 were only identified postmortem.

This means these cases might have infected health personnel who still continue to work without adequate PPE.