As Zimbabwe enters lockdown, people in the economically shattered country are forced to choose between daily survival and measures to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
“We are already ruined. What more harm can coronavirus do?” Irene Kampira asked as she sorted secondhand clothes at a bustling market in a poor suburb of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.
“It’s better to get coronavirus while looking for money than to sit at home and die from hunger,” Kampira said, to loud approval from other vendors.The southern African nation has few cases, but its health system is in tatters, and the virus could quickly overwhelm it. Hundreds of public hospital doctors and nurses have gone on strike over the lack of protective equipment.
“If the taps were working, we wouldn’t be here, swarming the well like bees on a beehive or flies on sewage. We are busy exchanging coronavirus here, coughing and spitting saliva at each other,” Annastancia Jack, 18, said while waiting her turn.Itai Rusike, director, Community Working Group on Health
Police in recent days have tried, in vain, to clear vendors from the streets. As in other African countries where many people rely on informal markets, a lockdown could mean immediate food shortages. “We are the only ones practicing social distancing — we sit in our cars all day,” said Blessing Hwiribisha, a motorist in a fuel line snaking for more than half a mile in the poor suburb of Kuwadzana.
Frightened health workers cited the death of a prominent broadcaster at an ill-equipped isolation center specifically reserved for COVID-19 cases.
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