Zimbabwe bans traditional funerals to battle Covid spike

The Zimbabwe government banned families from moving their dead relatives between cities in response to a recent increase in covid cases. 

It completely stopped the tradition that families would follow where their loved ones would be washed and buried. Police also prohibited the public viewing of bodies. The government would not compel people to bury the dead within 24 hours of death. 

Zimbabwe reported low COVID-19 but some cases have recently been identified. Is there a new, more harmful strain of the virus in South Africa, as many thousands of Zimbabweans return for the holidays? Reports indicate that MRC of Zimbabwe had discovered the strain. South Africa is currently fighting a menace that threatens its hospitals, health officials have announced. 

Zimbabwe records cases of 21,477 and around 507 deaths which shows the deterioration of its health-care system. The 7-day rolling average of new cases had a dramatic increase over the past few weeks. The seven-day average day deaths in Zimbabwe have also risen dramatically from 0.03 to 0.12 per 100,000 on Dec. 27 to 100,000 on Jan. 10 over the past two weeks.

Data source: AP