By Lerato Ndlovu
This year’s celebrations of the most celebrated love day in the world (Valentines Day) which is celebrated on the 14th day of February every year has seem to have been crushed for most lovebirds who were in anticipating of the day.
This follows the extension of the Covid-19 induced lock-down as announced by the Acting President and Minister of Health and Child Care, General (Rtd) Dr Constantine G Chiwenga who stipulated that it (lockdown) has been extended till the 15th of February which is a day after Valentines Day.
In His statement he stated that in the last couple of weeks, the country witnessed a rise in cases, with a likelihood of new infectious and more transmissible strains and variants circulating which is worrisome.
“We continue to see a high number of Covid 19 cases and sadly deaths. In the last week our new cases have been averaging about three hundred per day, with deaths averaging twenty per day, the situation is worrisome.
“We have a likelihood of new strains and variants. These strains are more transmissible and infectious, we are doing genomic sequencing to see if these strains are in our environment, results will be published as soon as we have them,” He said.
“The level 4 National lock-down that came into force on the 5th of January has stabilized our situation, the number of infections has been decreasing substantially. Equally our recovery rate has gone up but the numbers we are losing to the pandemic are falling, we bemoan the fact that Zimbabweans are dying at all, any death is one death too many.
“It is in light of this that His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe…, Cde Dr Emmerson D Mnangagwa has decided to extend the level 4 national lockdown by another two weeks to the 15th of February, appreciating the difficulties which come with this extension but we must save lives and our nation.”
The day this year is expected to be lavish for married couples and not those still in courtship, who had plans of spending the day roaming around or going out for movies and outdoor meals and events considering the rate at which the pandemic is moving and the number of people who lost their lives to it.
Despite love being celebrated every day, the day exists on the calendars of many considering it as the only day that one’s partner shows how much they appreciate their significant other.
