I have been quietly monitoring the Covid-19 situation and the sequence of events that have transpired so far.
I can safely say that it is not a lethal disease.
Like I earlier observed we seem to have drifted from basing our decisions on Epidemiology to making decisions based on hearsay and political rhetoric.
I still strongly feel that government should not have closed businesses, churches, schools etc based on hearsay and few imported cases of covid-19.
Instead Government should have waited to observe epidemiogically how the disease evolves at local level, whilst putting appropriate interventions in place.
That way they could have been making logical decisions based on data.
From my observations the Covid-19 may not be as lethal to Zambians and Africans in general as it was portrayed to be.
A close look with a medical eye may show that the deaths attributed to Corona in Zambia had other serious conditions than the Corona itself.
Am yet to see a death in Zambia purely caused by Covid-19. If this happens please update me so i analyse and update my thought process.
So what am saying is that I strongly feel Covid-19 may not be as lethal in our setting as earlier portrayed.
Therefore if my personal thought process is considered right, then Covid-19 may come out as a time waster, destructor, a hoax and a potential destroyer of our hard earned economic environment.
Am calling on Doctors, Public Heath Specialist, Epidemiologists, Health Management Specialist to come out and brainstorm in the open to give guidance to our political leaders before they destroy our country further and push our already poor people into unnecessary extreme poverty orchestrated by the Western World through or in the name of Covid-19.
Our observations over the past few months on Covid-19 are enough to enable us decide a good progressive path for our country. Let us not bury our heads in the sand and leave western countries dictate what we should do or not do at every point.
Let’s make use of our short observations on Covid-19 and our medical knowledge and experience to guide politicians to put this country on the right path.
Because most learned medical professionals don’t want to say things the way they are for fear of politicians, we shall end up embarrassing the same politicians when they start opening businesses, churches, schools when we shall have many many thousands of cases and the lay people will start querring their political decisions and they will lose trust in our medical guidance.
With our short experience with Covid-19, and building on our wealth of experience of epidemics, and pandemics, we could guide to continue normal life while putting appropriate intervention and eventually wean off the interventions.
I strongly and honestly feel that Covid-19 will Not kill us Zambians the way these foreigners are making us believe and it will be too late by the time we realise.
Once my thought process is proved right I hope one day the Third world should sue the Western World in the International Court for reparations/damages to the economy arising from false alarms and causing unnecessary fear and panic.
Dr Puma (UNZA) MPH (USA)
International Heath Systems Management Specialist.
It is very lethal to black people abroad. We hear this is due to many factors including poverty and majority of them working in customer facing roles such as cleaning and carers. I will leave it for the diasporans like tarino to comment on their experiences there abroad where thousands have perished. What is your government doing for you there in England and America and Europe? Kz
No you stup1d 1d10t its all about early control. Queensland ) cases 10,000 tests per day that’s just a province (State). A lot of black people here including aboriginals. very luck a dumb A.s.s like you isn’t advising the president. you do research before you ope that stinking mouth. Kikiki
Zero zero Zero log on now nicomppop and check, Same with Western Australia, northern Territory
Cat power you went quiet for a very long time since you said you were off to work. I assume you have finished your night shift. You are slaving away there when you can contribute here in your own birth country. Go and read the latest findings in England which was shown on BBC world news that black people there are four times likely to die than white person from corona. Read that then come back to me.
Time will tell
Conspiracy theorist if the cases pickup we will oblige to go into lock down again till we eradiate. we have enough savings
Look who is talking….Dr Puma! And you know what puma is Mwa Silozi? Telling a lie! So here is Dr Lies telling lies about Covid 19 lies such as drinking toilet disenfectants as vaccine for the virus! .. decade of lies, liers and circus! And to deceive the public even more, they pervert a narrative of “new normal”…. whereby lies, lying and liers, like Dr Puma is the new normal. What a wasted decade!
LT, this is irresponsible, should NOT have been published. It’s against all reason, and is misinformation.
I hope Zambians will reject this type of nonsense by a confused conspiracy theorist. He apparently is a Dr in ‘ill-health’ Systems Management. Listen to WHO.
THIS VIRUS IS REAL AND YOU ARE IN DANGER! MASK UP, WASH HANDS FREQUENTLY, STAY AT HOME, DONT GO TO BARS, RESTAURANTS, CINEMAS, GYMS UNTIL VACCINE FOUND.
Mad person writing nonsensical article and a learned person for that matter.
SOCIAL DISTANCE, 2METRES FROM ANYONE AS YOU WALK IN PUBLIC. NO SHAKING HANDS.
What that guy has written was worth writing during “Gassing” or “spraying chemicals” hoax in Zambia.
I don’t know what Lusambo should say about the coronavirus hoax.
‘It’s a hoax!’ ‘It will be gone by April!’ ‘You will not die.’ We heard these words from the US President Donald Trump in February 2020. The author of this paper is a public health specialist and not a virologist and that can explain his lack of understanding of the nature of this disease. The virus rapidly mutates and right now in Zambia, there is a mild strain of the virus and it will be contained as long as we keep people apart. The larger the number of people it jumps on, the more mutations it has. There is a random chance that one of these will be deadly. Epidemiology is an Observational study. It has a weakness of being wiser after the fact. For those who have lost loved ones, this is not a joke. One death is one too many. How many Zambians do you want to die before you wake…
Ayoweee
Dr Puma is right. But it’s hard to convince people who have already been deceived. Remember how we all believed that Bin Laden was a terrorist who brought down the twin towers in New York? Later we found out they wanted a reason to remove Sadat Hussein. He didn’t even have weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell went to the UN showing fake photos of weapons. It’s the same lie. Corona virus is a lie.
Oh man. This writing is everywhere and nowhere.
Doctor should refine his thought process and try to think like a scientist.
Dr Puma, reasoning by hunch is not science. Rely on verifiable research data for medical reasoning. Your comparisons are very simplistic and extremely frail.
Fortunately, non-doctors like Kaiser are able to read and interpret data correctly and are able to neutralise your advice.
Please think like a doctor and not like a doctoid.
Dr Puma is right. A group of lawyers in Nigeria have sued China, the US government has commenced investigations on the origin of the virus.
Remember how America killed 3000 people on 9/11 2001 to have a reason to remove Saddam Hussein? They want to have a reason to vaccinate everyone hence the corona virus.
Yes people will die, but that’s the reason they need to convince us that we need vaccines.
Otherwise, this virus is man made.
I cant disagree or agree with Dr. Puma. But all i can observe are colonized mental thinkers on this blog. I doubt these people wud even question if White Health Organization (WHO) advised them not to take Artemisia to treat Covid-19? Or not to to go toilet when u felt a stomach? Jst becos WHO said so. Really laughable, & i ll tell u why below…..
Its not a hoax as per se but it was just overblown by the media….fear mongering and cooking up some statistics…i think we have much more lethal diseases like Cancer,Ebola, Polio,TB etc….and we all know these are deadly more than the so called hyped up COVID 19….reminds me how the media likes to hype up boxing matches in order to sale tickets ….even writing a script for a weigh in..like boxers should scuffle and pretend like they want to throw punches at weigh in…..all that is fake and scripted
Corvid19 is real as can be seen from deaths.World is on its knees
And you say it not lethal.It looks
You are the only one to give such
Observation. Accept reality then
Running away from it.
We have 85 cases reported today of covid 19 after the new normal and 3 deaths, and cold season is stepping in, Brace yourselves, this is not the fimina you know, ask trump,
My word to you Dr Puma is that it’ll be very hard for you to convince brainwashed minds especially Africans who believe anything coming from America as truth. Just read the first comment it tells you of the African mindset. Otherwise continue with this crusade after 10 years we’ll look back and realize how we were tricked by Bill Gates into getting vaccinated for nothing but him becoming a first Trillionaire in the world
Zedian, Dr Puma in his naivety, is not advancing your conspiracy agenda.He is merely WRONG. He thinks like a doctoroid.
Dr puma you have a nursing school in kitwe and your business is what you are worried about
Firstly, what is Artemisia? It is a WHO tested & proven medicine used for treatment of Malaria & other ailments. Now, France, US & the WHO itself are currently busy with lab testing of a Covid-19 vaccine that uses two malaria pills HydroxyChloroquine. So, what wud be wrong for an African Country to also naturally use known Malaria herbs to cure themselves? Whether that herb works or not,all i know is that, the medicine that ll work for an African man & woman,is a Herb. Our study urgently must stop studying those colonial chemical European courses,they need to start studying herbs,our herbs. Cos White Health Organization makes those chemicals from these herbs.
Yaba,but Africans kwena? Its now 2020, with 56years of Independence & Freedom, yet you you still people that see the world thru the eye lenses of a either a European. or a Chinese.
Where the hell did this doctor obtain his degree from? He seems to be very ignorant to be called a doctor. I hope people trash his thoughts.
Former Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations to the President Amos Chanda has revealed that there is too much witchcraft in state house.
And Mr. Chanda says he does not know who has been practicing witchcraft at state house between Kaizer Zulu and freedom Sikazwe.
Mr. Chanda has reviewed that Kaizer Zulu has a human like Ghost that is always in his car and Freedom Sikazwe has three monkeys that help him to jump from one place to the other.
He says despite President Edgar Lungu inviting six sangoma’s from Tanzania every after six months, he has never seen him interacting with any magical being at state house.
.In the Audio, Mr. Chanda says he resigned after being threatened that he was not going to have children in his newly marriage by Kaizer and Freedom Sikazwe.
He has…
Wangling you must have a a few screws loose in your oblangada to believe such hogwash. Next you will say that kaizar can bring the dead back to life. Hahaha. A lot of ignorance which is concerning. Kz
…and 85 new cases have been recorded in 24 hours.
Dr Puma has some truth! Google Dr Makovits. You will see how”Respected Researchers” and Health Ministers manipulate disease because of GREED for MONEY! It’s easy to control people using FEAR! We are not supposed to live in Fear of germs! From the Immunology and Microbiology point of view, we need viruses, bacteria and fungi on our Skins as part of our Immunity make up! When we wash our hands too often, our bodies lose immunity. Worse, if you get COVID and it gets worse, don’t allow yourselves to be put on Ventilators! That is what is killing people! Boris Johnson recovered because he was not put on a Ventilator! Medicare pays $13,000 for a COVID patient and $39,000 for a patient on a Ventilator! It’s all a Pandemic of Corruption of Science!
@ tarino and over 600 deaths were recorded in the UK over the last 24 hours according to BBC world news. Why concerning yourself about our country? You swore allegiance to the queen when you were granted British citizenship so why not try and help your country there rather than sticking your big nose into our business.
Mad president Edgar Lungu opens the economy at the heightened cases of Corona virus increase. Total madness in the nation, no one has clue of ir will end up and calls “New normal” adaptation of living. This is total madness and waiting gor mass graves.
Exhausted Doctors and Academics must retire from sensitive public life.
Since when did Bill Gates become a medical expert…this should raise red flags….Corona well manufactured for financial gain
Whoever gave Puma a doctorate should withdraw it on grounds of refusing to use scientific methods to put his hypothesis to test. When you have a post graduate degree you can’t work on a hunch, especially on a serious matter.
Ba LT please unpublish. We have entered a new phase with the 84 cases.
Impostor just sit in your Council house and watch BBC News all day!!
As usual tarino fails to respond to issues raised but chooses to play the old fake/clone card. I don’t live in a council house nor in the UK. I do own a few houses there which are co owned with my lovely wife regina. Why are you failing to respond to my assertions. Why are our people more at risk there of dying than your white masters?
This isn’t a hoax guys,here in UK,yes black people have been affected more than their white counterparts , it is even worse in black Caribbean , part of the nhs is made up of black employees, those who have lost their beloved ones at the forefront have been promised £60 000 by the government,this is no joke
It’s a shame that people believe Bill Gates a College dropout instead of believing a Dr like Dr Puma. What a time to be alive
The majority black people dying of C19 would have perished long time ago in Zambia due to underlying conditions with deficiency of vitamin D from luck of sunshine.
It is the excellent free medical system we have in places like the U.K. that was keeping them alive.
Of those without issues , 80% of casualties are from concentrated exposure to C19 from front line roles.
Impostor I dont respond to impersonators..wait for your worshipers Nenaj Cherry and diaspora lady.
Who is this quack, Puma? “I can safely say that it is not a lethal disease.” Really!?!?
Perhaps the so-called “doctor” would like to explain this to the FAMILIES of the 275,213 people worldwide who have so died of the virus? Not only is this man IGNORANT but it is also HEARTLESS… especially heartless! Really cold.
Btw – I didn’t know the “USA” gives out Masters of Public Health degrees. If he can’t say what university his “degree” is from my guess is the University of Guam (with all due respect to Guamanians who have had 5 deaths from corona virus on their island so far).
Also – I agree entirely with #6 Patriot Abroad that it is IRRESPONSIBLE of LT to publish such rubbish. Please, LT you need to do better! Your list of so-called myths and facts misleading and wrong!
Dr Puma has made good scientific observation. Just like in the military you cannot describe a war without counting fatalities amongst your soldiers and any other collateral damage. equally if covid -19 in Zambia is a lethal as they want us to expect then we should be talking about the attack rate and the case fatality rates. further healthworkers being frontline workers should be expected to die. lets take a scientific approach and use public health knowledge realistically. IT is the new normal.
Really dangerous article and should have never seen the light of day or published.
The issue about COVID-19 is that it is a new virus that the medical world knows little about. It is highly transmitted by it mutates into different strains. It has no vaccine nor cure yet and that makes it really dangerous.
Yes it is far less lethal compared to other viruses and pandemics but that is not the point. The issue is it overwhelms the healthcare systems to the point where a nation couldn’t cope. With more infections, it means you would need more hospital beds; more ventilation machines; more frontline healthcare workers; more ICUs. What that means is all other diseases are neglected; elective surgery stops; emergency medical services stops and you have a crisis. The already vulnerable…
…The already vulnerable Zambian healthcare system wouldn’t have a chance to cope with so many people falling sick at once.
So the only solution is to minimise the rate of infections at any given time so you have fewer people coming to the hospital to allow the system to cope.
So it ain’t about 2% mortality rate, that is very simplistic way of looking at it.
In China where it all started, they had to build makeshift hospitals to be able to cope. In NYC they are overwhelmed and are unable to cope right now. Please remove the article!
Here is how a medical personnel in Australia once explained the issue at the beginning of the pandemic (Australia has done extremely well by the way compared to other developed nations because of their social distancing policies and other measures:
“1. We know from trends in other countries that approximately 80% of people who contract COVID-19 will be fine, and “only” 20% will need to be hospitalised (sounds good, right?)
2. BUT….Infectious Disease experts in Australia have predicted 20-25% of our population could potentially contract COVID-19. That’s approximately 6 million people.
3. 20-25% of 6 million is 1.2 -1.5 million. That means 1.2-1.5 million people will need hospitalisation.
4. Currently we have 62,000 public hospital beds, and 33,000 private hospital…
“…4. Currently we have 62,000 public hospital beds, and 33,000 private hospital beds, and a sum total of 2000 ICU (intensive care) beds.
5. So if ALL the beds were to be occupied by patients with COVID-19 at the same time, there would still be 1.1 MILLION PEOPLE WITHOUT BEDS.
***Remember – people are still having strokes, heart attacks, breaking legs, and giving birth***
6. Clearly, our hospital system cannot cope if ALL THESE PEOPLE GET SICK AT THE SAME TIME
7. So……we have to SLOW the spread of COVID-19……the same number of people will still get sick, but our hospital system is more equipped to cope if it happens over a longer period of time
8. Currently, the BEST THING YOU CAN DO is SOCIAL DISTANCING (also…..wash your hands and cough into your elbow)
As a GP,…
“…As a GP, the impact of this virus on our population is front and centre in my life right now. As a medical community, we are terrified. But I cannot imagine what it is like for my friends and colleagues working in the Emergency Department and the dread that my ICU colleagues currently feel for what awaits them.
Please, help us help you.
Ps. RE-POST this. If we can spread the message, maybe we can slow this virus.”
Tarino wachepa sana. You are a small boy
Wearing of Masks and Too frequent washing of hands are actually going to do more harm than good!
Wearing of masks means rebreathing your own EXHAUST, meaning you are taking in more of your exhaled Carbon Dioxide and less of Oxygen then creating in the body conditions favourable for the activation of pathogenic viruses within. Hypoxia may also pose danger to those driving or operating machinery. Not safe to drive while wearing masks! Washing hands is good in moderation. When overdone, handwashing removes the good bacteria, viruses and fungi that form part of our immune systems. In the end, everyone will become more vulnerable to these infections!
Lwipa Puma has rightly challenged health professionals. Is the Zambia Medical Association also intimidated by Chitalu Chilufya? Let them say something
What is facts and what is fake? A lot of people are confused about Covid 19. Everyone should do their own research. IIn this age of free information, it is unpardonable to stay ignorant.
I am not a conspiracy theorist but my observation so far is that there are certain forces interested to see a global economic and social disruption. It is just a matter of time before the truth comes out and the names behind this hoax are revealed.
The fatality of a regular flu is 0.1%, corona could be 0.2%, not higher.
The hoax is not in the existence of the virus, whether it is infectious, or whether it kills – all are true. The hoax is in the severity of the mortality of this virus, in the need to have a lockdown, and in the need to prolong this lockdown until there is a vaccine.
Clearly, Bill Gates and the Rockefeller vaccine manufacturers and eugenics enthusiasts are also monopolists who have direct financial interests in destroying non-Wall Street listed businesses and take their market share. Amazon, Netflix, WalMart, Apple have done very well out of this lockdown. If there is no remedy for the SME sector, those are the stocks to be invested in, in the coming years.
The likes of the imposter KZ are there to disrupt sense and pander to the gullible – and it is unbelievable how ‘normal’ thinking beings can ever align themselves with this despicable being (KZ) Coronavirus has affected different regions differently – but the crux of the matter is that human beings have died. For some, due to late responses – for others due to their vulnerability at advanced ages. The western systems advantage of longer life expectancy has of course been off set by the comorbidities that develop thereafter. But for people here to celebrate the deaths of thousands of people in Europe is atrocious. The numbers will not be as high in Africa due to a younger population, but the piecemeal measures mean we still won’t save as many as we could have, in Africa.
LT should somewhat regulate some insane contributions here. This is not a Zambian versus diaspora issue. Zambians abroad have relatives in Zambia and are genuinely concerned. What is the point of the disparaging sentiments of those working abroad? Does it matter what work they do? It’s a global world and people sell their labour where they please. All work is valued, unlike in some peoples minds in Zambia where they laugh at a public toilet cleaner but expect the toilet to be clean when they visit it. Mind you, Africans have covered all careers abroad – doctors at the frontline, engineers, accountants etc. apart from anything else. Some Zambian foo.ls here myopically criticise Zambians abroad but embrace exploitative racists investors in Zambia. Pathetic!
Dr. Puma is a professional medical doctor. The issues that he has raised can only be commented by fellow medical experts not by the likes of KZ and many others who have commented out of ignorance offering no sensible answer. 99% of the comments are like kachasu influenced devoid of any substance and sense.
I hear KZ is a medical expert, a qualified lab assistant for that matter. So what are you talking about? Respect ze bigge
This is an extremely reckless article this guy wrote, and has the potential to endanger the lives of many people in Zambia. It’s extremely dangerous to begin labeling COVID-19 a hoax. This guy is not the only one who has made this unsubstantiated claim. Two preachers in America claimed that the whole corona virus thing was a big hoax, until they caught it themselves and died. People are dying in the thousands in America from this disease. Also look at the numbers of victims of COVID 19 in Brazil, which is one of the countries hit hard by this pandemic. Thousands have died there from COVID 19. Brazil doesn’t fall in the category of a “western country” trying to sabotage third world countries’ economies, as it’s considered a third world country too. They have no reason to lie to…
… the world that their citizens are dying in the thousands. Stay safe out there people, and don’t listen to this clueless guy.
Puma’s write up is worthless. No rational logic, just blabbering of text
@ Tarino Orange. Dude, you seem to be fascinated with Kaizar Zulu, myself and Nine Chale. Why draw us in your comments?? I hope you have paid back Kapema her money. Otherwise if you’re cash strapped then Kaizar, myself and Nine Chale will contribute and bail you out. Let us know coz it’s genuinely concerning. Cheers!!
This nonsense by a so called Dr. shouldn’t be published. He can’t possibly be an MD. Does this Lusaka Times have a real editor? This is poor journalism. The conspiracy theories he has bought are out of the right wing Trump fanatics ( These are guys who celebrate when a black man is shot in cold blood and call it self defence) Any thing that would make Trump look bad, they call it fake. So if they can say this dangerous disease is not real, then Trump hasn’t failed in containing it.
It is not limited to one country and where there has aggressive containment measures, like Hong Kong, Vietnam, New Zealand, South Korea, Finland, Slovakia etc. they are now ready to open the economy. Some smart people have explained quite well what we are up against. I have lived in the USA for many…
the PhD holder has missed it.
Deseace control dies not work through assumptions
If anyone is noticing, according to the CDC the flu season in the US has ended.
Fauci, NEJM: “This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively.”
The prediction of millions of deaths was a hoax.
@ Kaizer Zulu, are you insinuating that black and Asian doctors who have died due COVID while working abroad were cleaning toilets?
What a wanker you are!
Is this a poor attempt at satire? If that is confirmed I ll be a happier Zambian. Otherwise I don’t understand how anyone especially owning a doctorate can want to belittle a pandemic that has killed a quarter million people and brought the whole world to a halt. An attempt at cheap publicity ba dokota?
Very right
If this was real enough for Zambia, we would have thousands of fatalities. Look into these sicknesses and deaths closely and you will find no one is “dying from” Covid, all are “dying with Covid” (already compromised immune systems or advanced age/ill health, hardly any health person dies from this). The mortality rate of this virus/disease is far less than 1% and it does not desearve to disrupt the economy or take centre stage. Follow Tanzania’s lead.
You’re all being prepared, as a condition for your freedom, to take an mandatory vaccinaton and mark-of-the-beast-style immunization passports as your ticket to freedom by Bill Gates – of ***
An look at the WHO classification of death:
“A- RECORDING COVID-19 ON THE…