Surge worsens Zimbabwe's woes ahead of Christmas

The business district and financial institutions of the Zimbabwean city of Harare have seen chaotic scenes as people desperate for money queue at banks, hoping to pay for essentials over the festive season.

The scenes come as the African continent experiences a spike in COVID-19 cases, following the identification of the omicron variant.

Queueing takes place despite advertisements on Christmas specials and posters urging COVID-19 prevention measures, including social distancing, scattered across the city.

"We are looking forward to Christmas and we have to pay school fees for our children after the holidays, but we can't get money from banks," Harare resident Evermore Ngwenya told The Associated Press while queueing outside a forex exchange outlet.

As the world ends a second year of living with the virus, Africa has recorded just over 9 million of the world's around 275 million cases so far.

The World Health Organization has for months described Africa as "one of the least affected regions in the world" in its weekly pandemic reports.

But in mid-December it said that the number of new cases was doubling every five days, as the delta and omicron variants push up infections.

In Zimbabwe and many parts of Africa where humanitarian needs are growing and economies are struggling in large part due to the pandemic, this festive season looks stark.

The virus is largely feared for its effects on the economy and ongoing humanitarian crises rather than infection or death.

Economist Prosper Chitambara said there have been worries that crowding at banks and shops over the Christmas period could be "super spreader" events.

"We are hoping that there won't be a major spike in the number of infections especially after the holidays," Chitambara said.

But many local businessmen and shop owners have expressed worry over their businesses.

The United Nations Economic Commission on Africa in March noted that about 1 out of 10 extremely poor people in the world live in Africa, and warned that the pandemic "will push an additional 5 to 29 million below the extreme poverty line."

In Zimbabwe, the government has threatened to widen vaccine mandates to public transport to counter vaccine hesitancy, but many people seem unfazed.

Even as the country reported record levels of infections in recent weeks, some see queuing for vaccination as a waste of precious time that can be better used to scrounge for food or money for daily survival.