Friday, April 19, 2024

The Rising Cases of COVID-19 in Zambia Will Continue, Says Prof Mukonka As 34 New Cases Are Reported

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Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) Director Victor Mukonka has said that says scientific evidence suggests that COVID-19 will be prevalent in the country for a long time to come.

Prof. Mukonka said that the rising trend of COVID-19 cases in the country will continue for some time and warned that the scenario may escalate further if citizens do not adhere to public health measures against the pandemic.

Professor Mukonka has, therefore, called on the participation of all members of the public in ensuring that the country finds a balance between averting a public health disaster and keeping the wheels of the economy running.

Speaking during the routine updates on COVID-19 in Lusaka today, Prof. Mukonka said 418 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours and 34 new cases were recorded, with the bulk of the new positive cases of COVID-19 coming from Nakonde District, while the others are from Lusaka.

Prof. MUKONKA said 105 people have been discharged and that the majority of these are from Muchinga province while the rest are from Kabwe, Solwezi, and Lusaka.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 cases now stands at 866 with 302 2 recoveries

28 COMMENTS

  1. Of course. It will get worse before it gets better. I agree with you Prof.
    But what a disaster!!!

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  2. Although cases will continue to rise due to the inadequate piece-meal measures, I still stand by my hypothesis that deaths will be far less comparatively. I go back to the malaria immunity profile and resilience to other pathogens. This is in fact being researched – if only we can build on it for more preventative measures. Countries that eradicated malaria like South Africa & some Arab countries are worst hit in Africa.

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  3. There’s no coronavirus here in Zambia. Cholera is even more dangerous. Now you can imagine if the number of covid-19 cases recorded so far was the number of cholera cases, how many deaths could have been recorded?

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  4. @Harold Muna, I agree. I’m not a virologist but I suspect the low death rates in Africa have a lot to do with high background immunity from Malaria and other tropical diseases.

    I have observed and come to the conclusion that scientists, virologists etc. are still clueless, keep contradicting each other, changing views from day to day. One German prof. this week said the virus will soon dissapear on it’s own before any vaccine comes. Now what? Mr. Mukonka also does’nt have a crystal ball to see into the future, so what makes him think this will go on forever?

    A man is just a man. Ni Lesa fye chapwa!

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  5. Two weeks back we heard they would increase the testing up 1000, what happened? You’re still testing less than 500 per day. I’m glad the Professor has brought a bit of relief to the daily briefing unlike Chilufya Chitalu.

    Keep it up!

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  6. By the way, why has LT not reported on the Nakonde ‘lockdown’ riots and reports that one person was shot dead?
    As well as the heads of state meeting in Harare – where ECL travelled to?

  7. @Harold Muna, Lockdown riot for what as if they are permanently lockdown. From tomorrow they will another 2 days shopping and selling

  8. Nine Chale – There you go again with your theories on why African has low deaths when we have already told you earlier….you are not a virologist as you state so why are you questioning them….what’s wrong you? You annoyingly keep asking the same question every week which you rephrase

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  9. Now this is a professional telling it as it …if only we had Prof. Mukonka from the onset unlike that cadre crook Chilufya

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  10. Keep on cooking up numbers and watch the tourism industry die a sudden death..Hotels and Lodges will become white elephants…the dollar will be K30…..alot of businesses will die…insurance companies will fold…real estate will die….COVID donations will just benefit PF bandits….there is no COVID in Zambia just lying to get donations for more 48 mansions

  11. To hell with sadists like tarino. The source of prof mukonkas information is the same as any person announcing on that podium.your personal hate for doc chilufya is worrying and frankly disgusting. Kaya limbi he stole your wife but again we have been told you are a gay so katwishi. Maybe you went to school together and he became something in his own land while you have achieved nothing and are a mere asylum seeker probably shining white business mens shoes at Heathrow airport kikikiki.

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  12. Excellent ratio of recoveries. This is positive sign. We continue the fight and we shall ensure victory. How are our friends in diaspora doing ? What are the current stats there in England and Europe?

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  13. @Tarino no one can stop me from making my observations and drawing my own conclusions. If we’re all thinking the same, then someone is not thinking. We should all be doing personal research based on our observations from various sources and not just following the “mainstream” information.

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  14. AFRICANS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO COVID19. if that was the case deaths of Africans in the West would have been noted from among other Black folk. Stop spreading mumbo jumbo. Accept that the gathering of statistics across Zambia is not being done effectively because we do not have the funds nor capacity to do meaningful data collection. What we can accept is that the current data collected in small samples from Tracing is indicative of the real problem in the wider population.

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  15. Let’s not make believe, but err on the side of caution. We HAVE to listen and learn from earlier experiences from countries where they have beat the first wave and are firefighting second wave breakouts.

    What we know is social distancing 2metres apart and masking has been successful in bringing down infection rates. If Zambians just obeyed those 2 rules religiously there will be less infections in the population. Other strategies like contact tracing and isolating are proven control measures, we can take example from Wuhan. The only problem in Zambia is that lockdown was done too early. It’s now as numbers are increasing that we should do another shorter lockdown to slow infection rates. Economic needs are dire, but consequences will be worse if we allow mass infections.

  16. Where is kz today i miss him alot, you see now if kz comments you would have seen more than 30 or 4o comments here now that is has’ nt kuwayawafye ba tarino.

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  17. Everyday Nakonde I THINK EVERYONE WHO HAVE BEEN TO NAKONDE IN THE LAST TWO MONTHS MUST CALL 909 FOR TESTING OR QUARANTINE

  18. Zambia should now try to focus on solutions not just cases other countries are already adopting likely to be treatments ….we should also try to find solutions not just testing cases without proper treatments

  19. Of course it will, with a gutlessly clueless thieving and tribally bigoted president what did you expect! It will be impossible to shower even false praise on the most vile of men. Once out of office & much like FTK, Chagwa will be like Chernobyl. Something to be sealed off. A poison to be contained!

  20. @Tasha what treatment are you talking of finding the cure, treating patients infected with the virus. There is quality treatment already taking place that is why they are able to discharge 105 people in a day. In addition that’s why there is low fatality

  21. It is time as a country we started questioning some of these things professor. Is the model of transmission as started by the west or is there another model which relates to Zambia? Looking at Dora who was the face of the fight and following all protocols and gets infected? Do we still maintain this rhetoric or it is time to question the hypothesis or theory being used in messaging for prevention in this case.

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