Chronicle Editor
Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Correspondent
More than 5 200 people have so far been arrested for defying lockdown regulations which are meant to avert the spread of Covid-19.
At least 1,8 million people have been infected with the coronavirus globally while more than 115 000 have been killed.
In the country, three people have died while a total of 14 Covid-19 cases have so far been recorded, as the country goes into the third week of the 21-day lockdown period.
In an interview, National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said a total of 515 people were arrested on Saturday alone while he said his office was still compiling arrests made on Sunday and yesterday as they were public holidays and some officers were not on duty.
He said some people continued to disregard the lockdown orders as parties and public drinking continued, while some people continued to move about unnecessarily.
“We have arrested a total of 5 226 people so far from the commencement of the 21-day lockdown period for defiance of the gazetted orders. Most of the offences have been linked to road traffic offences, operating businesses without authorisation during this period, unnecessary movement, liquor related, illegal gatherings such as parties among others,” he said.
“On Saturday alone, we arrested 515 people and more arrests were made on Sunday and today (yesterday). However, I will be able to give more statistics on Sunday and Monday arrests tomorrow (today),” said Assistant Commissioner Nyathi.
When a Chronicle news crew toured the city yesterday, it observed that there were few people trying to get into the central business district, although police and military officers were still turning back motor vehicles while some passengers were made to disembark from Zupco buses as they had no exemption letters to travel and were not part of the essential services personnel.
Some people continued to frequent shopping centres, consume liqour in public and operate unlicensed vending stalls, although the numbers observed yesterday were lower than those observed at the same time last week. — @andile_tshuma
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