Dear Zimbabwe

I hope and trust that I find you well and following World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 regulations to curb the spread of the pandemic, which has since claimed the lives of our brothers, sisters, parents and loved ones.

The month of July 2021 was the worst month in the history of COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe with over 1700 deaths being recorded inside one month under Level 4 lockdown. Many thanks to the wisdom and well thought out interventions by the New Dispensation to curb the spread of the pandemic, the decline in new cases and deaths around August 2021 was recorded.

The efforts of ordinary law abiding citizens cannot be left unmentioned. Some citizens heed Government’s call and got vaccinated despite determinations by some “dark forces” that included some contemptuous man of the cloth who tried in vain to derail the country’s vaccination program.

What is encouraging is that the greater portion of the citizens has embraced the COVID-19 vaccination. The question for many Zimbabwe now is, when or where to get vaccinated and not why should one be vaccinated. So far so good in terms of COVID-19 vaccination.

The encouragement remains; get vaccinated.

Going forward, it is my humble plea to my fellow Zimbabweans to unremittingly follow all the WHO COVID-19 protocols so that we all collectively stop the pandemic. Failure to do so will see the country returning to another necessary painful lockdown, which could be  Level 4 or 5.

The return to Level 4 or 5 sickens all of us; we all don’t want to return to that path again.

At this point, let me posit that the relaxation announced by Government to Level 2 is largely meant to allow some economic activities to resume not necessarily for citizens to throw away their masks, stop washing hands, moving around aimlessly and disregarding other protocols.

As we go about our business every day, let’s remember that the elephant is still  in the room; we still have work to curb the spread of COVID-19,  be it at home, work place, church gatherings, buses, funerals, market places  and others platforms.

If we all adhere to these reminders, Government will be left with no option but to further relax the COVID-19 restrictions to Level 1 or to completely lift the lock-down.

So fellow Zimbabweans, to avoid another necessary lockdown, let’s limit our movements at all times, avoid any gathering where possible, wash hands 70x7 times a day, wear masks properly and practise any other preventative measure you may think of.

Above all, let’s all get vaccinated against COVID-19.

May the Maker richly bless Zimbabwe.

Yours in Love

Tirivanhu Kateera

Kadoma