Cheer for restaurants, hotels, bottle stores

Restaurants can now serve sitting customers during their licensed hours, and serve alcohol to diners if they have a restaurant licence up to 4.30pm, while hotel bars can serve alcohol to customers during licensed hours and bottle stores can reopen, but must close daily at 4.30pm.

Zupco buses should be given a clear dedicated lane at road blocks, but operators of illegal public transport can have their vehicles held as court exhibits the second time they are caught breaching the lockdown rules.

In an amendment to the lockdown order gazetted yesterday, which gives legal effect to the relaxations approved by Cabinet this week, Minister of Health and Child Care Vice President Constantino Chiwenga gives the conditions and authority for domestic passenger air services to resume immediately and for international flights to resume from October 1. But passengers have to show a PCR Covid-19 certificate issued within 72 hours of boarding.

Returning residents can now self-quarantine at home if they show the PCR Covid-19 testing certificate issued within 48 hours of their arrival; otherwise they have to be in approved quarantine for 14 days.

Restaurants can now seat diners during their normal hours, but can only operate at half normal capacity, must be disinfected, must enforce social distancing and even enforce mask wearing except where customers are actually eating or drinking. Staff have to wear masks and gloves and be tested every fortnight.

Liquor can only be served between 8am or 4.30pm, but if the opening hours in the licence are later and the closing hours are earlier, then the tighter restriction applies.

National Parks facilities, safari operations and commercial water transport can now resume normal tourism operations, and the restaurants associated with these can reopen, although liquor sales remain limited to the 8am or 4.30pm times. Hotel bars can be open during normal licensed hours, but all other bars, casinos, nightclubs, beer halls and theatre bars remain shut.

The Vice President also added to the rules provisions for road blocks. Where possible the police have to leave a clear lane for approved public transport, to minimise delays, and can hold as an exhibit under relevant legislation a vehicle used for illegal public transport the second time that vehicle is caught.

The amendment now makes ZimStat staff essential workers, which allows preparation for the census to continue, lays down testing schedules for more people in contact with the public and relaxes the cleaning and disinfection of buses to twice daily.-herald