The First lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has called upon women within and outside the country to join her in prayer and fasting against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mrs. Mnangagwa’s calls come at a time the nation has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases and deaths with the country recording 28 675 cases, 18 110 recoveries and 825 deaths as of yesterday.
In a statement, the First lady said they will be fasting and praying for the nation to be spared from further calamity and suffering from the pandemic.
“May I as the Mother of the Nation call upon all women in Zimbabwe, and all those abroad who may so wish, to join me in fasting and praying to the Lord the Almighty from tomorrow 21 to Saturday 23 January 2021 for our nation to be spared from further calamity and suffering.
“Our country has witnessed a lot of Covid19 deaths in the past two weeks. Death is within our communities, at our doorstep. There is no family that has not suffered the loss of their beloved ones because of the pandemic.
“Every day we hear of names that are succumbing. I thus humbly appeal to all women to commit to a three day period from tomorrow in which we fast and pray calling for divine intervention to save the nation and our people,” said the First lady
She called upon women to enforce compliance to the Government laid COVID-19 regulations at family level.
“As mothers, let us enforce compliance at the family level with measures that reduce the spread of Covid19 amongst us. We need a plan at the household level for regularly using any means at our disposal to clean and sanitize our homes; to ensure that everyone in the home knows the importance of having a mask and masking up properly; more importantly to organise sharp safe errands for our requirements to get going whilst enforcing the family to stay at home.
“Let us include the measures against Covid19 as we play our motherly role of ensuring that every member of the family is responsible for their personal hygiene. As we avoid and fight stigmatisation, lets ensure that all members of the family have knowledge of how to help those that have been infected and are willing to assist those that get sick to cope whilst remaining safe from infection.” she said
The First lady paid tribute to members of the Security force and frontline health workers for a ‘sterling’ job during these trying times.
“I want to thank members of the health profession, our frontline heroes that continue to provide assistance to the sick, screening through testing to know the rate of infection and spreading awareness messages that help in compliance. I thank members of the Security Forces for a sterling job in enforcing compliance with the Covid-19 regulations.” she added.
