The Herald (Zimbabwe)

Darikwa urges people to stay home

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ZIMBABWE internatio­nal footballer Tendai Darikwa says this is a very tough time for everyone and has urged the country to stay home and respect the guidelines coming from the authoritie­s.

The Nottingham Forest defender released a video in which he urged people to be patient and to stay safe.

The lockdown in Zimbabwe has been extended by a further two weeks as authoritie­s battle to contain the deadly coronaviru­s outbreak.

‘‘This is a message urging everyone to stay home, stay safe with your families,’’ Darikwa said.

‘‘Listen to the authoritie­s during this tough time for everybody.’’

‘‘Hopefully, everyone would be out soon to enjoy themselves, stay safe and take care.’’

Nottingham Forest players and staff tested negative for coronaviru­s last month after Greek owner Evangelos Marinakis returned a positive result.

Marinakis, 52, was at the City Ground for Forest’s Championsh­ip fixture against Millwall last month.

He revealed he had contracted the virus, prompting Forest to arrange tests for their entire team and those who came in contact with him.

Marinakis also owns Olympiakos and his presence at the Etihad Stadium two weeks ago when Arsenal were beaten by the Greek side in the Europa League led to the postponeme­nt of the London club’s Premier League game against Manchester City.

Several Gunners players were put into selfisolat­ion after meeting Marinakis.

Meanwhile, Warriors legend, Esrom Nyandoro, has decided to auction some of his football memorabili­a to raise funds for the fight against Coronaviru­s which targets to raise one million masks.

Nyandoro said he was approached by two Zimbabwean ladies, among them former Miss Zimbabwe Samantha Tshuma, to come on board as they sought to raise one million masks and sanitisers to be used as prevention for the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I immediatel­y agreed and said I don’t have a problem with that. The idea is really not about how much will be raised but it’s the objective behind that, which is for a good cause.

“As much as I am this side, home is home, I am a Zimbabwean and I love my fellow countrymen from back home so like I said I think its not about money but for a good cause and I hope whatever we are going to raise on the particular day will make a difference towards the one million masks,” said Nyandoro.

The auction was initially set to be conducted on Thursday but they were now contemplat­ing on moving it forward due to the overwhelmi­ng support.

“A lot of people are phoning saying why shouldn’t I give them a chance and so Thursday might be too soon to hold the auction.

“I might also auction my boots that I wore when we played against Ghana in the African Nations Cup finals in Egypt. ‘‘This is just a good gesture to my Zimbabwean­s. I am sure you know how precious it is to keep these things that that we wore during our playing times, they are our most prized possession­s but we are talking about a life saving gesture here,” said Nyandoro

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