The Zambian government has announced closure of its border with Tanzania. Zambian president Edgar Lungu has directed that the Nakonda border which the country shares with Tanzania would be closed temporarily as number of coronavirus cases increase.
In a Covid-19 press briefing on Sunday May 10, 2020, Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya said, “With effect from Monday the 11 of May 2020, the Nakonde border will be temporarily closed. There shall be no traffic in and out of Nakonde.”
The move came following unexpected spike in the number of coronavirus cases in Nakonde which as of Sunday stood at 267.
The minster said, “The situation in Nakonde remains grave and the government is concerned”.
The aim behind the border closure with Tanzania is to ensure implementation of various outlined interventions in order to reach the government targets.
The government also said that during the closure there would be sessions of training for immigration staff on the border on safety measures on people and goods entering the country without compromising people’s lives.
According to the minister, “The interventions include training and retraining of our port staff including immigration and federal health staff so that we could actually ensure that they are ready to deal with any immigration and migration and movement of goods and services without endangering their lives.”
It is also said that safety and protection of the people and government officers in Nakonde is the government’s priority and that government would ensure that more staff are sent to Nakonde.
The government would as well reinforce distribution of Personal Protective Equipment and availability and rearrangement quarantine facilities and other key logistics at the border to ensure that businesses are back to normal as soon as possible.
Zambia seems to be the hardest hit country in Southern Africa.
According to John Hopkins University tallies as of Sunday 10, Zambia has recorded 267 confirmed cases, 7 deaths and 117 recoveries.
