Lerato Ndlovu
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and other security personnel currently enforcing lockdown measures, risk contracting and spreading COVID-19 through their modus operandi.
Police officers have, since the start of the lockdown carried operations without any personnel protective equipment like face masks as they roam the streets to ensure that the citizens follow lockdown regulations.
By moving in groups without maintaining social distancing they risk spreading the virus if one of them is to be infected.
When one contracts the virus, symptoms are not immediately visible. This alone makes the virus a bigger threat to the police who are moving in groups as one may pass COVID-19 to the rest in the truck without knowing they’re infected.
The rate at which the virus is moving globally makes it impossible to know who will be infected next.
With Africa lagging behind on technological advancements, acquisition of equipment like ventilators that are not easily accessible in the African nations makes them more expensive even for our district health institutions.
The virus has taken a toll on the well equipped, resourced and financed western countries as they continue to record high mortality rates daily regardless of having the equipment and as such, this highlights the necessity for all to be safe and well-protected.
African heads of states and government have united and highlighted the unprecedented threat that Covid-19 presents to the health of African citizens and to the continent’s hard-won developmental and economic gains.
The imperative to establish humanitarian and trade corridors in a spirit of African solidarity and integration given the urgent need for medical supplies and equipment, calling for international cooperation and support while up-scaling local production of what is accessible on the continent has since been urged.
In the Zimbabwean context where the misinformed thought they were immune to the pandemic, hearts raced after the death of media personality, Zororo Makamba, giving into panic and uncertainty considering the country’s economic position.
Citizens watch from a distance asking themselves if these security forces are not prone to getting the virus themselves, worry gets to their families and loved ones as they see them doing per job requisite but unable to ask them how they are coping considering how they operate and treat the public at such a time.
From the research conducted by different health organisations, they all clearly state that the purpose of the lockdown globally is to curb the number of new cases by limiting physical contact.
Police and municipal health officers try to practice this social distance and health practice myth at the market places, shopping centres amongst other places but fail due to concerned citizens, rights activists and legal experts who raise questions about the legality and feasibility of their doings in such an economy where people base on hand to mouth so as to survive.
Zimbabwe as of yesterday (Monday) records that 358 cumulative tests had been conducted with one death from the 9 positive cases.
Security officers must, therefore, take precaution by observing social distancing for the sake of both their lives and the lives of those they are protecting.
Covid-19 has since been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (Who) and to date, no known vaccination to the deadly bug has been found.
