Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya has said that the Ministry is still determining the extent of the COVID -19 disease in the country. Speaking at the latest COVID-19 update, Dr Chilufya said that the mass screening and targeted testing will continue in selected parts of Lusaka to help ascertain the extent of the pandemic.
The Minister said that mass screening and testing will this week be done in Lusaka’s Rhodespark and Madras in Kamwala among other areas. Dr. Chilufya has appealed to Lusaka residents to cooperate with the medical officers who are carrying out mass screening and targeted testing.
The Minister also disclosed that Makeni still remains the centre of focus and that 746 individuals have been screened from the mass screening exercise which he said will continue into this week and later be extended to Rhodes Park and other parts of Lusaka and therefore appealed to all Lusaka residents to remain cooperative as massive screening is upscaled.
“We are emphasizing the need to stop new infections and we shall continue mass screening so that we do not promote further human to human transmission,” he said and urged people to play their part even as the government ponders to open some sectors of the economy.
“This is a fight that we can win but requires collective responsibility, collective effort, and patriotism by ensuring that all directives which include staying at home, social distancing, and avoiding unnecessary travels are followed,” he said.
Meanwhile, 4 new positive cases of COVID-19 have been recorded out of 378 tests carried out in the last 24 hours, 3 of which are cases are within Lusaka while one is from the Copperbelt.
Speaking at the latest COVID-19 update, Dr. Chilufya explained that one case is from Chilenje out of the mass screening,one is a UTH patient who had a dental abscess and was picked from the surveillance and tested positive and the other whose address is yet to be established is the one from the Copperbelt.
He said cumulatively cases now stand at 88, 3 deaths, 43 active cases, 37 recoveries while 2,931 persons have been discharged from the mandatory quarantine with 1,092 alerts recorded and cleared as non-positive cases.
And Dr. Chilufya said concerns of the Resident Doctors Association of Zambia arising from uncertainty on personal protective equipment PPE’s, compensation and incentives of health personnel are being looked into through constant engagements with all sector players in order to ensure that all the issues concerning them are prioritized and emphasized that this is the time for constant engagement as opposed to industrial disharmony to effectively deal with the pandemic.
He has assured all frontline health workers of government’s commitment and provision of PPE’s and other support including the recruitment of more health personnel as directed by President Edgar Lungu.
Dr Chilufya also thanked the Religious groupings that have cooperated with the government and opted not to re-open church services due to the outbreak. He also thanked the media for the role they are playing in disseminating information to the public aimed at influencing behavioral change. Dr Chilufya, however, stressed that the call to action is to stay home and safe.
The fourth is from where bcoz u have only mentioned 3
Dr. Chilufya is a natural orator who thinks quick on his feet with intelligent responses to questions, and is not shy to ask journalists to rephrase their questions for clarity. The daily briefings have undoubtedly afforded us the opportunity to observe this politician’s skills level and approach to problems.
I guess we shall continue to see a rise in cases for a considerable stretch of time. However, if the critical rate remains as low as it is, we should not worry much because our health system can handle it. All the more important it is to know where we stand in the timeline of the pandemic in order to make meaningful decisions when it comes to easing restrictions. We do appreciate the update.
Countries like Botswana with a population of 2.5 million people can test about 1000 people a day what makes Zambia fail to test 2000 per day? The whole idea is to please Edgar Lungu the reason why i insist the whole testing process is stage managed.
Like I said earlier Chilufya goes to an area “mass screens” then sends samples for testing at his one and only lab in Lusaka he knows the results will back after 48 hours. Tomorrow (24hours later) he will come back and announce that no new cases recorded from the mass screening even though his test results have not actually come back then next day after 48 hours he will come back and say oh there are 5 new cases, we noticed this trend from the Kafue and Bauleni tests…there is no validity or reliability in what he is saying…any other President would have sacked this man but Lazy Lungu is just happy his name is mentioned to stroke his ego.
Yeah the flags are back on LT …this will be interesting!!
Yes the flags are back and morons have baboons have run away
Yes the flags are back and morons and baboons have run away
TheEngineer – This is going to be interesting indeed….but you only have to read through todays article comment thread to see the busy clown has already been unmasked…next you will hear that Lusambo and Kz both uses VPN.
So that is 45 new cases in the last two weeks and 7 recoveries during the same period… looks like things are turning for the worst. Now is the time for everybody to play their part. And also, less propaganda bullsh*t from the government (Be as transparent as possible and disseminate timely and accurate information)
Uncle Tembo – You are barking up a wrong tree asking a crook like Chilufya to be transparent and accountable!!
Jones – That’s not being a natural orator its been sly and a medical doctor asking a journalist to rephrase a technical question is just bullying and intimidation.
What is our ‘R factor ‘ (rate of infection) ?
Like to say , to every one infection there could be a possible 15 other people infected due to contact especially considering our social nature of interaction and lifestlyle.
The no.4 in infections reported has become so prominently expectant .
We are certainly lagging behind on tests compared to other countries .We can do better.
Perhaps we need more donations in the area of test kits .
We applaude our health persornel and police for the good job they are doing.
Yes, it looks like there is a bottleneck about test kits’ capacity. We should have been testing at least a 1000 a day by now. Maybe the US govt can ably assist. It also seems medics still have concerns about PPEs and allowances issues. Uncle Tembo, I agree with you on cutting down on the propaganda, yesterday’s update was full of it after the address on Friday.
Fonti – But how can you assist someone who is not transparent, the individual is just accepting everything everyday …look at the UK, they are clear on what they are short of – PPE and what they are doing about the problem…ordering from Turkey where they have a RAF aircraft waiting for it at Ankara. When has Chilufya ever said we need test kits everyone knows there is global shortage of them, when has Chilufya challenged the local manufacturers to help with PPE? I hope the $10 million the USAID is giving them is in form of technical assistance as they will misappropriate the funds.
There is a character here who has been disparaging those in the diaspora for all sorts of ignorant, selfish, compromised and primitive reasons – while pretending to be based in Zambia. @ Tarino Orange was right
Just go and see yesterday’s article about USA donating $10 million …scroll down the comments thread and see where Bowman and Kz?
The doctors association is beginning to talk about the apparent lack of PPEs, hence the talk about patriotism & not advocating for industrial discord during today’s update. Any gaps in reporting will surface soon. It’s sad to see that even journalists from many media houses are missing at the updates. The sooner we get a true picture, the sooner we can all adjust accordingly to stay safe. The updates are dominated by one person which is not right. It’s clear there is a tight leash on the flow of information.
the last sentence , why is he thanking religious leaders , ? does it mean he didn’t agree with his boss?
betters – They are just attempting to mop up the mess after issuing a reckless decision which backfired, in other countries there are Chief Medical Officers in charge of all doctors you can not have one man a politician who has an iron grip on everything.
Covid 19 hotspots will emerge in Mfulira , Chipata and Mongu while the Zambian authorities just focus on Lusaka.
@Zambia wa zamani, totally correct bcoz of the limited capacity in testing. That’s the biggest challenge, even in Kafue, it’s clear less than 25 K residents have been screened two weeks after the much publicized “lockdown”. Can you imagine what’s happening in Nakonde which is several hundred KMs away. We urgently need to ask for testing capacity in at least 10 locations but we keep talking of scalable plans etc etc and using semantics to answer questions. By March, WHO made it clear this was a pandemic. Let us ask for help ASAP to ramp up testing capacity in all provinces. It’s beginning to get cool as winter is around the corner.
Minister, be specific, where on the copperbelt is the 1 case recorded? For Lusaka you are even going as far as the house number. We need to know which town on the copperbelt.
We can win on low Numbers. Plan for getting food from farms to local areas, so people do not have to go out of their areas of residence. We need to stop people from traveling far from their home areas. Che k local clinics have medicines and front line staff to respond quickly to new infections in their areas.
I don’t think people a social distancing correctly, more sensitisation required. It’s keeping a 2metres apart when talking to others. I have seen pictures of crowds of people rubbing shoulders. More wore on this. Masks/gloves on all the time in public, bus transport.
STAY HOME.
Zambia must seriously looking into efficacy of the Madagascar covid-19 cure rather than waiting for a cure to pop up from the west
Dr. Chilufya is a very intelligent man who knows what he’s doing, please let’s give him the support!!
Where are the scientists and epidemiological experts in Zambia? Public health chief, chief medical scientist? Where is their advice? Are they the ones feeding the political doctor Chilufya? All the announcements and measures appear haphazard and more political than based on a science.
Kz is busy at the office he will in due course respond to these fooool diasporans bene tarino chakuti
After LT exposed the flags… KZ and Lusambo have disappeared. Go look at the old posts. It was the same guy posting from the UK
The engineer,the posts you are talkin of were those when he was on national duty, he will soon respond.
The vile impostor has scampered for cover like a Vampire running for cover at sunrise..really laughable indeed…only genuine resident LT bloggers are left. I told that boyo to grow up and be real.
The situation will worsen especially if churches for into that trap
He is busy at the office preparing speeches for the relevant authorities he will respond very soon i informed him that these foools bene tarino are celebratin, the bigman will respond Be assured.
The president can simply close churches again. Don’t give misguided be a chance to act recklessly. I am a Christian and know my people can be very easily misled. Close all churches again now.
OPPOSITION LEADERS LACK CAPACITY TO CONTROL SPREAD OF COVID-19
Prior to US military invasion of Iraq, former President Jimmy Carter opposed George Bush’s plan to invade Iraq, because the Americans & British were fed with tons of misinformation on realities prevailing in Iraq. When President Bush ordered a military invasion of Iraq on 19th March 2003, Jimmy Carter opted to be silent because the US, as a nation, was at war. In Britain the invasion of Iraq inflicted casualties on Tony Blair who was fired as Prime Minister for misleading the British people. HH, Kambwili and Nevers Mumba must know that in a war situation a country requires a unified command under a Government of the day to execute the war. This includes the fight against the COVID-19. HH, Kambwili & Nevers Mumba lack capacity…
This includes the fight against the COVID-19. HH, Kambwili & Nevers Mumba lack capacity to control the spread of COVID-19. The current Govt has a capable team to ably execute the fight against COVID-19 based on global, regional and national expertise to scientifically coordinate the control of COVID-19 pandemic. Opposition leaders must take a leaf from Jimmy Carter and SHUT-UP from fermenting what in science is described as ECOLOGICAL NOISE (Confusion).
OPPOSITION LEADERS RESORT TO BIOLOGICAL WARFARE
Good leadership is tested during a national crisis. In the US President Kennedy exhibited leadership during the Cuban crisis; and President Obama resolved a US economic crisis because he believed in team work. In Zambia KK’s leadership was tested during Ian Smith era, prompting the construction of TAZARA and the Oil Pipe Line from Dar es Salaam to Ndola. President Lungu’s wisdom in executing the fight against COVID-19 is blotting out chances of opposition leaders to win the hearts of Zambians. Hence their resorting to waging a BIOLOGICAL WARFARE on President Lungu by criticising President ECL for not appearing in public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their evil prayer is to get President Lungu exposed to COVID-19 as the only way for them to…
Their evil prayer (for HH, Kambwili, Nevers Mumba and their supporters) is to get President Lungu exposed to COVID-19 and get irreversibly infected, as the only way for them to successfully feature in the 2021 Presidential elections. If this fails HH, Kambwili and Mumba will, in desperation, resort to hiring the devilish SANGOMAS to eliminate President EC Lungu.
@ Mwansa Kabinga, kwena uli Cipuba!
@ Viputa Vinu
Nechi puba chakwata amano…… it worse than that