A disappearing economy
Zimbabwe's economy shrank by eight percent last year, and the government fears it could contract by up to 20 percent by the end of 2020.
"People have to travel around looking for basic foodstuffs; there is crowding and people are neglecting social distancing," said Godfrey Kanyenze of the Labour and Economic Research Unit of Zimbabwe, a trade union-linked think tank.
Her mother, a domestic worker there, used to send food parcels, but the South African government closed the busy border in March as a coronavirus lockdown measure.
While other vulnerable countries have been able to access billions of dollars in emergency COVID-19 credit, Zimbabwe cannot: its $2 billion of arrears to the World Bank and the African Development Bank make it ineligible for further funding or debt forgiveness.
The World Bank this month granted $7 million to help Zimbabwe fight coronavirus, using a trust fund to circumvent its own rules, and the African Development Bank has approved a further $13.7 million grant to strengthen the underfunded health system.
