Government lifts temporary ban on school sporting activities Minister Monica Mutsvangwa

Mashudu Netsianda,  Online Reporter

PRIMARY schools can now recommence sporting activities with secondary schools that have reached 70 percent Covid-19 vaccination also given greenlight to resume non-contact sporting activities.

Government had suspended all sporting activities in schools as part of preventive measures to contain the rising number of Covid-19 cases, which were triggered by the Omicron variant. In her post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said provincial medical directors in collaboration with provincial education directors should also submit on a weekly basis a list of schools in their provinces that meet the 70 percent second dose Covid-19 coverage.

“All primary schools can resume sporting activities. Secondary schools that have reached 70 percent Covid-19 vaccination can resume non-contact sporting activities,” she said. “In embracing the new normal Cabinet has approved the following measures: that provincial medical directors in collaboration with provincial education directors submit on a weekly basis a list of schools in their provinces that meet the 70 percent second dose Covid-19.”

Vaccination

Minister Mutsvangwa said all provinces should now ramp up vaccination under the Phase II Vaccination Blitz Campaign Programme by working closely with community leaders. “All teams should continue working closely with community leaders to ramp up vaccination campaign activities and encourage the most vulnerable groups especially the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions to get vaccinated,” she said.

Minister Mutsvangwa said 14 new Covid-19 cases were detected through the schools’ surveillance system bringing the number of cases recorded since the beginning of second term on 3 May 2022 to 66. “The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education continues to provide requisite facilitation for the ongoing vaccination blitz campaign in schools.

Provinces are planning to extend phase two vaccination campaign by a few more weeks to ensure that all eligible learners are vaccinated and are maximally protected especially during the winter season that is now upon us,” she said. “Government also advised the country to remain vigilant in view of a surge in Covid-19 cases.”

Covid-19 cells

On Covid-19 update, Minister Mutsvangwa said the most recent genomic sequence testing results show that the circulating variants in Zimbabwe remain Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 & not the more transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 that have been reported in South Africa. As of yesterday, Zimbabwe had 249 431 confirmed cases, including 242 537 recoveries and 5 484 deaths. To date, a total of 6 131 637 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 @mashnets

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