Friday, March 29, 2024

Two new COVID-19 cases recorded as Government plans to Scale Testing to 1,000 people daily

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TWO new COVID-19 cases have been recorded out of 184 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, Health Minister Dr. Chitalu Chilufya has said. Speaking at the latest COVID-19 update, Dr. Chilufya explained that the two cases involve a 13-year-old and 34 years old both of Kafue, all from the mass screening.

He said cumulatively cases now stand at 89, 3 deaths, 44 active cases with recoveries still remaining at 37 while 2,942 individuals have completed the 14-day mandatory quarantine.

And Dr. Chilufya has rectified that the earlier reported positive case from the Copperbelt is a repeat case as it is part of those that are already in admission at Masaiti Hospital.

He said the number of cases on the Copperbelt, therefore, remains 4 and not 5 as was reported yesterday.

He said there is a need for all to continue being patriotic and support all the directives if the pandemic can be contained effectively.

“The need for us to adhere to the directive on masking is extremely important. We are passing on the masks to the needy and nothing is being kept. ” Dr. Chilufya encouraged and assured that all the masks been donated are being distributed to the general public as well as frontline staff.

He said engagements with MPs and community leaders to distribute masks to the public have been intensified and assured that all donations are being used prudently with high levels of transparency.

“I want to assure you that there is prudence in the utilization of every penny. We are working with all government agencies to ensure there is accountability” he said.

And Dr. Chilufya said mass screening will continue in targeted places in Lusaka and said a scalable approach is being implemented which will see an increase in tests of approximately 1,000 people daily to identify and isolate as many cases as possible in order to avoid further spread of the virus.

He further announced that a team of experts has been dispatched in Nakonde which is due to undergo massive screening and contact tracing.

Dr. Chilufya appreciated the frontline health workers and assured them of President Edgar Lungu’s support and said he salutes and urges them to continue with the hard work which they have exhibited so far.

29 COMMENTS

  1. People of God please take care, don’t be given false hope by these seemingly good statistics because COVID-19 is moving slowly into our community.

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  2. Please let the Chief Medical Officer announce these figures not a sly politician like Chilufya…this is too corrupt to be talking about prudence

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  3. And Chilufya said mass screening will continue in targeted places in Lusaka and said a scalable approach is being implemented which will see an increase in tests of approx 1,000 people daily to identify and isolate as many cases as possible in order to avoid further spread of the virus.

    He doesnt mention how many test kits he has, he doesnt mention whether his lab can handle a 1000 samples daily, he doesnt mention if he has mobile labs …Journalists why are you letting this crook get away with his lies at the expense of health of the nation.

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  4. Looks like COVID is here to stay….it will just be the same story….postive test today…no positive test tomorrow…just like that and expect such things when a Politician is the one giving statistics Bandit Chilufya

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  5. Anonymous this man is telling lies without shame here again Kafue has come back to bite him – Dr. Chilufya explained that the two cases involve a 13-year-old and 34 years old both of Kafue, all from the mass screening…which mass screening is it still ongoing in Kafue? Why did you advise govt to lift lockdown after 24 hours.
    Its really laughable like our resident impostor who can not populate the thread with diatribe as the floodlights are on now with these flags showing poor sob can not play his silly childish games anymore.

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  6. We have not heard from Nursing Body or Doctors Bodies on the availability of PPE to health workers, they should be sat on that table.. its just one man giving updates of everything …Lazy Lungu this is not how you lead a nation.

  7. He says mass screening but figures in for tests was 378 on Saturday, Sunday 186 tests nothing is making sense and what area do they cover it might be 20 people here and there and he calls it mass screening …its all shambolic and not reliable if you are genuinely mass screening in Kafue and Lusaka you should be doing 800 tests a day unless you have one team driving around Lusaka province.

  8. I think we are heavily relying on wrong people to do the right thing. Dr. Chilufya Chitalu is serving the interest of the president not the nation. We have been singing and questioning the testing process, and it was yesterday when I drew a contrast between testing process in Botswana and Zambia. With a population of about 2.5 million people, they are capable of testing 1000 people a day whilst Zambia can not. It is high time this Chitalu Chitalu fired. He is of no use to us.

  9. The president must appoint covid-19 task force headed by the director of health or an independent health practitioner. This Chilufya Chitalu is serving his personal and political interests.

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  10. @Tarino Orange
    Yes it looks like COVID has been hijacked by Zambian Politicians and ordinary citizens Will now be dancing to their tunes…..just telling lies every day…and Bandit President Lungu is very much involved in cooking up these fake statistics

  11. 1000 tests a day is not bad target. As someone has said, this thing is probably here to stay but as long as the death toll is not on the rise, it means things are not too bad. It would indeed be interesting to hear what epidemiologists or virologists in Zambia have to say at this stage. We also need to see some graphics of the timeline in order to assess the development better.

  12. Nine Chale this Chilufya of yours is from an epidemiology background hence the reason he is in the forefront and I doubt he would listen to other professionals that are in the field or working in practice everything he is doing is politically driven. The biggest mistake we make in Zambia is placing doctors behind disks and ministerial positions in MOH from minsters to Deputy PS, there should only be one doctor there and that is the Chief Medical Officer. Doctors should be merely be consultants at MOH.

  13. He further announced that a team of experts has been dispatched in Nakonde which is due to undergo massive screening and contact tracing.
    As far as Chilufya is concerned this disease can be eliminated by contact tracing which he uses interchangeably careless with mass screening another flaw and possible lie …how about people in Solwezi, Chipata Mongu Livingstone…all of Zambia’s neighbors have recorded cases….is anyone taking count of people dying around the country, is MOH working with the police? Is there no team of experts in Northern Province? All this will blow in our faces…and be exposed like our juvenile impostor boyo who kept turning his mattress every time he wet his bed only to be exposed by the smell and flags.

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  14. Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.

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  15. all of you, you can give your own figures if you can’t trust chilufya and his team. you seem to be more intelligent than everyone but hey, you can’t see the works that these guys are doing. gues you know better. show us your figures you torino and anonymuous.

  16. These guys are really doing a commendable job! As a country Let’s give them maximum support and from me, excellent Dr…

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  17. @Tarino Orange: don’t practice hatred on this platform.You can only post and you end there. You can’t force all of us to accept as correct your political views. lsolence and hate my friend will make others turn their faces even against the good things you may say. Learn to be sorber and wise, then you will win others to you.

  18. Tarino Orange your concern is that wether the government has the capacity to test 1000 people. This is so because you didn’t hear him mention number of test kits he has. What I can tell you is that these items are available. For them to say that they could have purchased or ordered them. The information I can give you is that CEC has ordered 4000 test kits that can test and give results within 2 hours. This is supposed to be donated towards covid-19 fight.
    Any way you are diaspora you cannot know everything occurring here.

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  19. Mutende – Yes I am in diaspora and you are in Zambia I can see the flag thankfully…let me tell you now there is a shortage of test kits, how can you talk of 4000 test kits available or ordered on the way and Chilufya is talking of 1000 tests a day so how long will they last 4 days? It does not add up.
    I have people in Zambia as well who bring me up to speed on issues and in this era of technology where I am is of no importance.

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  20. Musalakata – Chilufya is a corrupt crook he should in court ACC is sitting on his file and impostor of KZ was a fake and impostor where is the hate!!!

  21. Tarino Orange today the the Association of Indian community donated 1000 test kits today for more information for you. Did your friends in Zambia gave you this information

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  22. Ba KZ, so you are based in UK and writing as Kaizer Zulu in Zambia. You are a traitor, writing negative views about Zambians in diaspora, you are a betrayer like Judas Iscariot to Zambians at home mocking at their suffering under PF regime while you parade yourself (enjoying) – Shameful and disgraceful writing about high number of deaths in UK due to Covid 19, a country you reside in and find all the comfort transposing as in Zambia.
    Very shameful, small wonder you are a PF cadre despising Zambians in diaspora when they contribute so much to Zambia. Shame on you.

  23. MunaDekhane – I told you bloggers that the little shameless sadistic prat was based in the UK and he will back again the silly sausage as he tried being N3z the coon the UPND cadre, Kz the PF cadre.

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