Mnangagwa said the lockdown would continue because the country had not yet met conditions set down by the World Health Organization to lift the measures.

Three people have died from the virus out of the 25 confirmed infected in the southern African country, but health experts expect the figures to rise once authorities ramp up testing.

“It has been a very hard decision that my government has had to take reluctantly,” Mnangagwa said in a live television broadcast.

Mnangagwa said the government would allow mining companies, which generate the most foreign currency, to resume full operations while manufacturers would work at limited capacity. Mining companies operating in Zimbabwe include local operations of Impala Platinum Holdings and Anglo American Platinum .

Zimbabwe began a 21-day lockdown on March 30, which has confined most people to their homes. But in poor townships, people are venturing out in search of staples like maize meal, leading to long queues at the shops.

The lockdown has left many citizens without an income and food at a time the country is grappling with the worst economic crisis in a decade, marked by shortages of foreign exchange, food and medicines.

In the capital Harare, city council officials, with the help of police and soldiers, were on Sunday tearing down illegal market stalls used by informal traders in townships.

The move was strongly criticised by citizens in the country where more than 80% of the working population have no formal jobs and eke a living from informal markets.

City authorities defended the move saying it was necessary to restore order in the city and that informal traders would be relocated to new and better facilities. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by Jane Merriman)