$36 000 Fine For Not Wearing Face Mask
Acting Minister of Health and Child Care Professor Amon Murwira gazetted Statutory Instrument 174/20 under the Public Health (Covid-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) (National Lockdown) (Amendment) Order, 2020 (No. 14) on Wednesday.
The new law stipulates that those who fail to comply face hefty penalties of up to $36 000 or a year in jail.
Statutory Instrument 174/20 also defines that “wearing a face mask” in a public place now means that wearers must “securely” cover their nose and mouth with the mask.
The SI also stipulates what constitutes an essential service and which services can operate during the 6AM to 6PM curfew.
According to the new curfew regulations, production, supply, delivery and distribution of food, fuel and coal is permitted during the curfew hours, supermarkets and food shops cannot operate during the curfew.
Banks, bureaux de change and the like have to obey the curfew, except their security staff can work at night. Courts, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, public examinations and Parliament remain essential services for all other purposes, but have to obey the curfew.
Activities that can operate during the curfew are mining and the operations of designated tobacco auction floors to the list of services that are exempted.
Individuals can move during the curfew to buy medicine, move to and from work if they are employed in the essential services, seek medical attention, go to the home of a relative who needs medical help, or if they are a member of staff of a foreign mission or agency and are going to that mission.
Non essential businesses such as supermarkets, food shops, fuel outlets, restaurants, and safari and hunting operations are allowed to operate only between 8am and 3pm.
SI 174/20 also lays down the procedure to be carried out when a member of staff of a non-essential, but exempted business, which for this purpose now includes the food shops, restaurants, service stations and safari operations, tests positive or is confirmed to have died from Covid-19.
Read: Here is a list of documents you need to pass a roadblock during the lockdown