days: sculptor lazarus takawira on 12 january; zanu-pf youth leader lens 'ruwizhi' farando on 15 january; state minister for manicaland ellen gwaradzimba on 15 january; freedom fighter and nationalist morton malianga on 15 january; zanu-pf masvingo information secretary ronald ndava on 17 january; former reserve bank of zimbabwe governor kombo james moyana on 18 january; the minister for foreign affairs and international trade sibusiso moyo on 20 january; the minister for transport and infrastructure development, joel matiza, on 22 january; former minister for education, sports and culture aeneas chigwedere on 22 january; former commissioner general of the zimbabwe prisons and correctional services, paradzai zimondi, on 22 january. three members of the cabinet of zimbabwe died in the first two weeks of january because of the pandemic, adding to the death of cabinet minister perrance shiri in july 2020. the government announced that two batches of the chinese-made sinopharm bibp vaccine had been ordered with the first 200,000 doses expected to arrive on 15 february and 600,000 more doses in march 2021. mass vaccination commenced on 18 february. the 501.v2 variant was confirmed in zimbabwe on 16 february. there were 2,701 new cases in february, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 36,089. the death toll rose to 1,463. there were 793 new cases in march, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 36,882. the death toll rose to 1,523. since the start of mass vaccination on 18 february, 76,995 persons had been inoculated. april to june 2021 there were 1,375 new cases in april, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 38,257. the death toll rose to 1,567. the number of recovered patients increased to 35,612, leaving 1,078 active cases at the end of the month. since the start of mass vaccination on 18 february, 414,735 persons had been inoculated. zimbabwe's first case of the b.1.617 variant was confirmed on 19 may. there were 704 new cases in may, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 38,961. the death toll rose to 1,594. the number of recovered patients increased to 36,596, leaving 771 active cases at the end of the month. localised lockdown measures were introduced in mashonaland west, masvingo and bulawayo as zimbabwe entered a third wave of infections. ahmed bilal shah died from covid-19 on 25 june. there were 10,903 new cases in june, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 49,864. the death toll rose to 1,789. the number of recovered patients increased to 39,121, leaving 8,954 active cases at the end of the month. july to september 2021 the number of confirmed cases more than doubled in july to 108,860, a monthly increase of 59,996. the death toll rose to 3,532. the number of recovered patients more than doubled to 78,856, leaving 29,472 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 767,910. in august, the number of confirmed cases increased by 15,913 to 124,773. the death toll rose to 4,419. the number of recovered patients more than doubled to 113,057, leaving 7,297 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 1,636,498. there were 6,047 new cases in september, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 130,820. the death toll rose to 4,623. the number of recovered patients increased to 123,016, leaving 3,181 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 2,271,135. october to december 2021 there were 2,157 new cases in october, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 132,977. the death toll rose to 4,678. the number of recovered patients increased to 127,700, leaving 599 active cases at the end of the month. there were 1,648 new cases in november, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 134,625. the death toll rose to 4,707. the number of recovered patients increased to 128,747, leaving 1,171 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 2,816,543. vice-president constantino chiwenga claimed on 2 december that the b.1.1.529 strain had been identified in zimbabwe. there were 78,733 new cases in december, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 213,358. the death toll rose to 5,004. the number of recovered patients increased to 180,570, leaving 27,684 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 3,135,175. modelling by who's regional office for africa suggests that due to under-reporting, the true cumulative number of infections by the end of 2021 was around 6.8 million while the true number of covid-19 deaths was around 6,295. january to march 2022 there were 16,308 new cases in january, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 229,666. the death toll rose to 5,338. the number of recovered patients increased to 219,414, leaving 4,914 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 3,299,628. there were 6,714 new cases in february, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 236,380. the death toll rose to 5,395. the number of recovered patients increased to 226,394, leaving 4,591 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 3,393,674. there were 9,905 new cases in march, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 246,285. the death toll rose to 5,444. the number of recovered patients increased to 238,276, leaving 2,565 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 3,529,646. april to june 2022 there were 1,626 new cases in april, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 247,911. the death toll rose to 5,469. the number of recovered patients increased to 241,703, leaving 740 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 3,673,894. there were 4,792 new cases in may, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 252,703. the death toll rose to 5,506. the number of recovered patients increased to 244,434, leaving 2,763 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 4,522,237. there were 2,883 new cases in june, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 255,586. the death toll rose to 5,555. the number of recovered patients increased to 248,664, leaving 1,367 active cases at the end of the month. the number of fully vaccinated persons stood at 4,611,113. july to september 2022 there were 796 new cases in july, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 256,382. the death toll rose to 5,577. there were 387 new cases in august, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 256,769. the death toll rose to 5,596. there were 573 new cases in september, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 257,342. the death toll rose to 5,599. the number of recovered patients increased to 251,233, leaving 510 active cases at the end of the month. october to december 2022 there were 551 new cases in october, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 257,893. the death toll rose to 5,606. the number of recovered patients increased to 251,904, leaving 383 active cases at the end of the month. there were 1271 new cases in november, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 259,164. the death toll rose to 5,620. there were 783 new cases in december, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 259,947. the death toll rose to 5,635. the number of recovered patients increased to 253,659, leaving 653 active cases at the end of the month. january to march 2023 there were 3,136 new cases in january, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 263,083. the death toll rose to 5,659. there were 1,044 new cases in february, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 264,127. the death toll rose to 5,668. there were 428 new cases in march, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 264,555. the death toll rose to 5,681. prevention measures and effects before there were any confirmed cases in the country, president emmerson mnangagwa had declared a national emergency, putting in place travel restrictions and banning large gatherings. the country's defence minister, oppah muchinguri caused controversy by stating the coronavirus could be a divine punishment on western nations for imposing sanctions on zimbabwe. on 23 march, president mnangagwa announced additional measures: closure of zimbabwe's borders to all non-essential travel, except for returning residents and cargo; closure of bars, nightclubs, cinemas, swimming pools, and sporting activities; restriction of all public gatherings to fewer than 50 people; restriction of hospital visits to no more than one per day. on 27 march the government announced that the country would go into a nationwide lockdown for 21 days from 30 march onwards. the victoria falls viewing sites have also been closed as part of zimbabwe and zambia lock down measures. some of the restrictions of the 21-day lock down have been reversed; supermarkets are now allowed to sell alcohol once again. on 18 april the republic of zimbabwe celebrate its 40th independence day under lock down for the first time in the country's history. during the lockdown 201 malaria outbreaks were reported, 90 were controlled resulting in 131 people dying. the imf estimated that the zimbabwean economy would probably contract by 7.4% in 2020 largely due to the impact of the pandemic. prevention and treatment was negatively impacted by a medical workers strike in the first quarter of 2020 due to a lack of ppe. statistics total cases confirmed covid-19 cases in zimbabwe cumulative cases deaths new daily cases confirmed cases per day deaths per day confirmed deaths per day by province confirmed covid-19 cases in zimbabwe by province as at 17 june 2022() province tests cumulative cases recovered active cases deaths bulawayo 582 22,093 (+9) 21,093 (+20) 117 883 (+2) harare 924 47,943 (+26) 45,815 (+58) 331 1,797 (+1) manicaland 139 29,722 (+8) 29,029 (+20) 137 556 (0) mashonaland central 96 14,385 (+4) 13,916 (+3) 145 324 (0) mashonaland east 124 33,320 (+15) 32,567 (+6) 337 416 (0) mashonaland west 0 31,308 (+8) 30,558 (+5) 170 580 (0) midlands 63 17,995 (+18) 17,296 (0) 270 429 (0) masvingo 0 21,857 (+1) 21,535 (+10) 114 208 (0) matabeleland north 6 18,317 (+12) 18,068 (+1) 118 131 (0) matabeleland south 143 17,813 (+8) 17,502 (+7) 102 209 (+1) total 2,077 254,753 (+109) 247,379 (+120) 1,841 5,533 (+4) source: ministry of health and child care vaccination on 22 february 2021, zimbabwe launched their covid-19 vaccination program using the sinopharm bibp vaccine. as of 17 june 2022, 6,260,228 people have received their first dose, 4,598,703 have received their second dose, and 851,874 have received a third dose. as of 11 june 2022, 41.5% of the total population received at least one dose. corruption is alleged to exist within the public vaccination program, with the priority for receiving vaccines being given to those willing to pay bribes to hospital staff, and members of zimbabwe's ruling party zanu-pf. vaccines are reportedly available within the private health care system at a cost of approximately us$40.