140 returnees leave quarantine centre

OVER 140 returnees who arrived from South Africa who were being quarantined at the National Social Security (NSSA) Hotel, will be released today after staying at the facility for between eight and 21 days.

Those that have not completed the mandatory 21 days, will be moved to quarantine centres nearer their homes. The Director of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Totamirepi Tirivavi said the move was part of Government’s efforts to de-congest the Beitbridge centre.

The Beitbridge centre will remain with 150 people. Returnees that have completed their quarantine will be assisted with transport home.

Mr Tirivavi said security had also been beefed up, with more police officers and the Zimbabwe National Army deployed to enhance the safety of returnees and the public.

There have been no reports of people absconding from the quarantine centre since security was heightened.

“Currently, we are in the process of discharging over 140 people who have tested negative of Covid-19 after quarantining here. These will complete quarantine at centres closer to the final destinations.

“Zupco buses and our officers are finalising the list of those that will be moved. The idea is to decongest this place and remain with a standard manageable number,” he said.

The Beitbridge quarantine centre has so far handled 227 people.

It has 197 people comprising 111 men, 64 women and 22 children. Eight people escaped in the first week of operation, prompting authorities to boost security.

As more formal businesses in the commercial and banking sectors reopen or prepare to reopen under amended lockdown provisions, traffic is building up in Harare city centre but is still well below normal levels with street parking still generally easy to find within a block of the desired destination except near concentrations of banks or supermarkets, and no City Parking marshals waiting to charge for this. Added to the traffic of legal city centre business there is growing transit traffic, drivers needing to cross the city from home to work and bus passengers who live on one side of town but work in a reopened business on the other and have to stand in a city centre Zupco queue for their second bus. Informal sector vendors are more likely in suburbs, mainly vegetable sellers, but in the city centre some money changers skulk around although vendors are still not back on the streets, keeping pavements clear. City from home to work and bus passengers who live on one side of town but work in a re-opened business on the other and have to stand in a city centre Zupco queue for their second bus