Angola reimposed movement restrictions and increased fines for people flouting measures to limit a second wave of COVID-19 infections. Government offices will operate with only 50% of staff, while the private sector will be allowed 75%, Minister of State Adao de Almeida told reporters in the capital, Luanda, on Wednesday. Home gatherings will be restricted to 15 people and a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew introduced, he said.

Earlier in April, President Lourenco of Angola declared a state of health emergency and ordered a 15-day lockdown across the southern African country.

But residents in the capital Luanda say they are struggling and as a result, broke some of the lockdown rules. With no access to basic goods, water, some residents vow to keep on working to make ends meet.

Fines for breaking the newly imposed restrictions will range from 20,000 kwanza ($30) for unmasked people to 450,000 kwanza for hosting parties. The country is recording an 8.7% positivity rate, compared with 5% during a peak period in October, according to Health Minister Silvia Lutucuta. It reported 226 new infections and four deaths on Wednesday, taking cumulative cases to 26,178 and 591 deaths.

The nation is seeing more cases of the variants first identified in South Africa and England, with the English version being more deadly and more infectious, she said. Unlike in the first wave when most cases were asymptomatic and deaths were mainly among elderly male patients with co-morbidities, the second spike seems to affect people uniformly despite their gender or age, Lutucuta said.

Story compiled with assistance from wire reports