INFORMAL traders operating at Lusaka Fresh Produce Market at Machipisa, in Highfield, Harare yesterday received coronavirus (Covid-19) health packs donated by the Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic  Transformation (Viset) as part of a campaign to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The campaign is set to spread to all other markets as the country intensifies the fight against the pandemic which has claimed thousands of lives.

The health packs included hand sanitisers, gloves, face masks and IEC materials and were distributed to more than 400 selected informal traders and City of Harare Covid-19 response teams who were monitoring operations at the market.

Viset director Samuel Wadzai said in Harare alone the project is expected to benefit more than 5 000 informal traders and will be rolled out to all markets that were temporarily opened by the Harare City Council.

“So tomorrow (today) we will be in Mbare if all things go according to plan. The purpose of this is to contribute as an organisation to the prevention and curbing of the further spread of the deadly virus,” Wadzai told the Daily News.

This comes at a time when Poverty Reduction Forum Trust (PRFT) is calling on the government and local authorities to decentralise informal markets like Mbare-Musika to curb the spread of coronavirus and reduce the risk of exposure to the deadly virus.