Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Tuesday that all residents and visitors who enter the country are expected to go for mandatory quarantine at their own expense, in an effort to stop the spread of the Omicron variant.

The mandatory quarantine is regardless of a PCR test result.

“All returning residents and visitors have to undergo PCR testing and will be quarantined at own cost for days recommended by WHO, even if they present negative PCR test results from elsewhere,” Mnangagwa said in a televised address.

The quarantine was set for 10 days.

Mnangagwa added that Zimbabwe faces an “added risk” of the new variant.

“We face a new, added risk, which compounds the burden we already face and shoulder from known variants we have been grappling with since the outbreak of the pandemic,” Mnangagwa said. 

Zimbabwe has not recorded a case of the Omicron variant, since scientists in neighbouring SA detected and reported it last week.

Apart from the quarantine, additional measures introduced include:

• Curfew hours have been revised to run from 9pm to 6am;
• No alcohol will be consumed at bottle stores, while night clubs and bars will admit vaccinated clients only;
• Restaurants now close at 7pm; and
• Covid-19 related funerals will be supervised by health ministry officials.

TimesLIVE