LOCKDOWN EXTENDED BY 3 WEEKS

MBABANE – It has been termed a relaxed partial lockdown, but it will last for three weeks.

His Majesty King Mswati III has commanded that the partial lockdown, which was supposed to end yesterday, be extended by 21 days, starting today.
The command was announced by the Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, during a press conference held yesterday at the Cabinet Offices.
This essentially means that the partial lockdown will end on May 7, 2020.

Announcing the extended lockdown, the PM said His Majesty had commanded that the relaxed partial lockdown should allow low-risk non-essential business to operate under strict hygiene conditions.

“This will ensure that we balance the health interests and economic stability of the kingdom,” said Dlamini. Some of the businesses which have been considered low-risk and can reopen include construction workers, car dealerships, driving schools and furniture shops, among others.

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Businesses which will continue not to operate and were defined as high-risk include hairdressing salons and barber shops, clothing street vendors (bend and pick) and the manufacturing, distribution and wholesaling of liquor, government announced.

The PM said the extension by 21 days would buy the country more time to contain the spread of the virus and avoid overwhelming the country’s health system.
He said the country had seen positive COVID-19 cases increase by seven during the partial lockdown and that projections from health professionals indicated that the partial lockdown measures may have delayed the onset of the infection peak by one to six months.

“These projections and increase in confirmed cases show that we are not yet at the point of flattening the curve. While a lot has been achieved over the past 20 days, the risk on an uncontrollable spread remains high,” said Dlamini.

The PM said tough decisions have had to be made to protect the citizens and keep the country safe and secure. He said the extension would give government enough time to flatten the curve  and allow them to aggressively fight the virus, train more health workers and acquire the requisite medical equipment to help emaSwati face the virus head-on.

The PM said a number of health interventions would be undertaken to aggressively contain the spread of COVID-19 over the next 21 days and one of these would be increasing screening for coronavirus symptoms.

He said this would take place in places of contact of positive cases through the use of the regional rapid response teams, screening at hospital entry points and intensified screening at clinics situated near informal crossings.
Surveillance
Dlamini said the surveillance would also take place at police roadblocks, on clients calling the emergency toll-free line reporting symptoms of COVID-19 and returning travellers.
The premier said all those screened who fitted the COVID-19 case definition would have their samples taken for testing and be isolated as they awaited their results in order to curb the infection rate. “Contact-tracing will continue along with spatial monitoring of new cases and surveillance to identify and intervene in hotspots,” said Dlamini.
Meanwhile, the PM said Eswatini had embarked on a robust drive to transform the economy and set this country on a path towards sustainable growth and stability.
He said the country needed a strong and resilient economy to improve and sustain the livelihoods of emaSwati and future generations.
“However, we cannot achieve that goal if the lives of emaSwati are threatened by a silent killer whose sting and pulse knows no bounds and boundaries,” he said.
He stated that the efforts to reignite the economy would be a futile exercise if the enemy, which continued to wreak havoc across the world, causing panic and uncertainty, was not confronted.
The initial partial lockdown commenced on March 27 until the extension yesterday.
Dlamini said this had changed the way of life which they were used to and had strained the economy, adversely affected business, health and education, and delayed our economic renewal drive.
The PM said Eswatini would also continue to observe the regulations put up by the country’s neighbours, being South Africa and Mozambique.

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