Zimbabwe seeks to conduct 100,000 tests for COVID-19 per month - ambassador

"Testing is taking place on health and security personnel and those in essential services. The government is targeting testing 100,000 people a month," Sango said.

The ambassador added that given that the majority of cases were imported, the government had ordered that all returning residents be isolated for 21 days upon their arrival. Apart from testing and tracing contacts, the authorities are also making efforts to educate locals on proper hygiene and social distancing.

"Naturally, the continued lockdown has its negative impact on the poor [people], who have no regular source of income other than from day to day hustling … The government has lifted lockdown on the agriculture and mining industries with specific guidelines on how to safeguard workers from contracting the disease," the ambassador said.

Sango also stated that the government was now distributing maize meal directly to households to avoid crowding and has allowed markets for perishables to open, as they provide nutrition to households while practicing enforceable social distancing and hygiene.

Last week, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa extended the quarantine imposed due to the coronavirus until May 15, while reducing the quarantine measure to Level 2. In particular, industrial and commercial enterprises will reopen, provided that their employees wear masks, with the workday being scheduled from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. local time (06:00 to 13:00 GMT).

As of Wednesday, Zimbabwe has reported 34 confirmed coronavirus infection cases, including four fatalities. It is believed, however, that the low rate in Zimbabwe — and the bigger rest of Africa, for that matter — is not due to the actual absence of infection, but rather due to shortage of adequate diagnostic capacities.