ZESCO Limited has advised its customers and the general public to use online platforms for business transactions with the power utility in a bid to complement government efforts of mitigating the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
This announced comes after Zambia recorded its first two cases of the Coronavirus as reported today, 18 March 2020, by the Ministry of Health during press briefing.
The unidentified individuals are said to be a family of four (4) that traveled to France on a 10 days’ vacation of which both parents tested positive while the two children have tested negative.
ZESCO has since advised customers to minimize walking into customer service centers dotted around the country, but instead utilize online platforms through service providers such as banks, mobile money and Third Party Venders (TPVs) for purchasing electricity units and reporting faults.
In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by ZESCO Public Relations Manager Hezel Zulu Zesco Limited further urges its customers and the general public to consistently adhere to preventive measures such as regular washing of hands with soap and water, avoiding handshakes and hugs, keeping distances of at least one meter from each other, drinking a lot of fluids, frequent rubbing of hands with alcohol based hand sanitizers to mention, but a few.
“During this period, we are all encouraged to support the multisectoral approach led by the Ministry of Health to limit the spread of the virus and this calls for concerted efforts from all Zambians hence, the need to intensify measures to avoid the further spread of the virus,” She said.
COVID-19 was first reported on 31st December 2019 in Wuhan City of Hubei Province in China. On 30th January 2020 the outbreak was declared a Global Public Health Emergency by the World Health Organization – WHO.
Following wide and continued spread of the virus around the world, the outbreak has in the last few days been upgraded to pandemic status. However, the WHO still implores countries to step up efforts for containing spread of the virus by implementing strong measures to support early disease detection.
