Minister of Health Jonas Chanda says the country has continued to have a lot of critically COVID- 19 ill patients in health facilities. Dr. Chanda has urged Zambians to remain on guard against a possible third wave locally in the coming cold months.
He said mitigation of the third wave will be possible by strict adherence to public health guidelines.
“Given that we live in an interconnected and globalized world with travel into and out of Zambia, it is crucial that we remain on guard against a possible third wave locally in the coming cold months and which can only be mitigated by strict adherence to public health guidelines to prevent transmission,” he has noted.
And the Minister has further noted that most countries in Europe and some in Africa including Kenya have declared a third wave of the pandemic and are preparing to head into further lockdowns.
In a statement issued to the media in Lusaka yesterdday, the Minister further indicated that government remains committed to being guided by science and empirical evidence to inform the country’s planned voluntary vaccination programme, vaccine choices and deployment strategies.
“In addition, we have also constituted a team of experts to evaluate the lessons learnt globally on the evolution of the COVID-19 outbreak following the initiation of vaccination campaigns,” he said.
Dr. Chanda explained that the team is comparing the country’s COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake levels as well as the impact on transmission rates, severity of disease, death rates and the socioeconomic status of countries.
And the Minister has announced that 214 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded out of 5,495 tests conducted in the last 24 hours representing 4% positivity thereby bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases recorded to date to 86, 273.
Dr. Chanda indicated that North – Western Province recorded 43 cases, Copperbelt and Luapula provinces 37 cases each, Lusaka 26, Northern 18, Muchinga 17, Central and Eastern 14 each, while Southern province recorded 6 and Western 2 cases.
“Of the 214 positive samples, 183 were collected within the last 24-72 hours whereas 31 were older than 72 hours. The provinces with the highest positivity rates were North-Western with 13%, Luapula and Muchinga 9% each, while Lusaka 2%, Southern and Western had the lowest rates of 1% each,” stressed the Minister.
Meanwhile, the Minister said the cumulative number of COVID-19 related deaths recorded remains at 1,178 classified as 648 COVID-19 deaths and 530 COVID- related deaths.
He explained that a combined 396 discharges were recorded from both the COVID-19 isolation facilities and home management bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 83,110 representing 96%.
“We currently have 1,985 active cases of whom 1,851 representing 19% are under community management and 134 representing 7% are admitted to our COVID-19 isolation facilities with 88 on oxygen therapy and 24 in critical condition,” he pointed out.
Thank ba Zambia minister for taking Covid 19 seriously. Tanzania continued to ignore it resulting in the deaths of top officials and even Magufuli’s “heart ailment” was possibly Covid 19.
PLEASE TELL US SOMETHING WE DONT KNOW AS WE ALL WEEL AWARE OF THE HIGH INFECTION RATE
WHAT ABOUT VACCINES
Lusambo and lungu are super spreaders of covid
June will be a critical month for us. At least we have not recorded any deaths during last few days.
Those in diaspora can you tell us how many have died there abroad? Please continue taking those vaccines on our behalf as Guinea pig so that by time we come to vaccinate our people, we will br sure that they are safe. Just watch out for those blood clots
Why doesnt this Jonas tell his fellow govt officials and cadres: Sampa was out yesterday …now he has watched the international news about the third wave he has starting singing the same song…are you not ashamed that Tanzania has refused to obtain any funding regarding covid-19 while you have been begging from last year.
The most classic adage regarding trolling is, “Don’t feed the trolls.” Trolls seek out emotional responses and find provocation amusing, so replying to them or attempting to debate them will only make them troll more. By ignoring a troll completely, they will likely become frustrated and go somewhere else on the internet.
You should try your best not to take anything trolls say seriously. No matter how poorly they behave, remember these people spend countless unproductive hours trying to make people mad. They’re not worth your time of day.
Time for Zambia to look at the 70 or so countries that have closed their borders and made travel bubbles only allowing trucks to bring goods in and out, enforce social distancing , close churches, close shebeens and enforce small numbers at weddings, funerals and other gatherings.
it has worked well in Australia, New Zealand , Singapore and many Pacific Island countries.
Having a a vaccine program me should be the objective of Gov be it Convax or Gavi to support the case for epidemiological
as well as the case for economic progress
Good progress by the minister but we hope more of those biotech and pharma investments could establish their FDIs here in Zambia to grow the sector from traditional medicines and services
NO DEATHS DONT LIE ………… DEATHS ARE MANY THESE ARE PEOPLES LIVES DONT PLAY GAMES OH EVIL ONE
YOU CAN HIDE THE TRUTH FROM PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME BUT NOT ALL THE TIME
GO TAKE A SWIM IN THE ZAMBEZI
The only shortfall I see is huge gatherings still being the norm given the current situation. It’s like people have decided to ignore the pandemic for now.