Chronicle Editor
Many people are now complying with the requirement to wear face masks outside their homes and this is as it should be. It is now mandatory under the level two national lockdown for people to wear face masks outside their homes.
Most people are complying with this requirement which is very encouraging. Those who cannot afford to buy the masks from pharmacies are making their own at home, a demonstration of the people’s commitment to meeting the wearing of masks requirement.
What however remains a challenge is maintaining social distancing especially when queuing to board buses during peak hours.
This has been blamed on shortage of public transport which has seen people jostling to board the few buses available and, in the process, ignoring the importance of maintaining social distancing.
We therefore want to implore Zupco to increase buses especially during peak hours in the morning and in the evening so that there are no long queues and workers do not spend hours waiting for transport.
In the event Zupco is overwhelmed, there might be a need to consider opening up the public transport business to private kombi operators who should make an undertaking to ferry the required number of passengers to maintain social distancing.
Courts have resumed business today with a skeleton staff to enable courtrooms and offices to maintain social distancing. What other companies and organisations can borrow from the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is the issue of appointing Covid-19 health regulations enforcement officers at each work station.
These officers will assist in enforcing health regulations by denying entry to workers who refuse to submit to the health requirements. This is important if companies and organisations are to protect workers against defiant individuals who put fellow workers at risk by refusing to comply with health regulations.
We want at this juncture to call upon companies to appoint these health regulations enforcement officers who should be empowered to deny, even their bosses, entry into the work premises if they do not comply with the regulations.
Government has allowed companies to resume operations without mandatory Covid-19 testing but workers have to strictly adhere to health regulations meant to curb the spread of Covid-19.
We totally agree with Vice President Kembo Mohadi who is also the chairperson of the Ad-Hoc inter-Ministerial Committee on Covid-19 that our only salvation as a developing country with limited resources is to comply with health regulations.
Cde Mohadi has warned against being reckless saying the country cannot contain a major outbreak given its limited resources.
We want to once again urge workers and general members of the public to strive to do their best to comply with the health regulations so that the pandemic is kept at bay.
Online Reporter