Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Technical Services, Kennedy Malama says the country has continued recording an improving picture in terms of positivity, admissions and deaths over the past weeks.
Dr. Malama has however said the patients on oxygen and those who are in critical condition remain relatively high at 72 percent and 27 percent respectively.
He indicated that 22 admissions have been recorded, indicating that transmission is still taking place in communities.
“The patients we have in our hospitals have tended to stay longer, some up to two months more than we saw during the first and second waves again indicating the severity of the disease we are seeing,” he said.
And Dr. Malama announced that in the last 24 hours, 358 new confirmed COVID-19 cases out of 6,226 tests conducted, giving 5.8 percent positivity recorded.
He said the distribution of new cases shows that Central Province recorded 15, Copperbelt 38, Eastern 47, Luapula 59, Lusaka 23, Muchinga 41, Northern 32, North-western 65, Southern 11, and Western 27 bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases recorded to date to 202,787.
“Sadly, 12 new COVID-19 related deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, an increase from the low numbers we have been seeing in past week. This brings the cumulative number of COVID-19 related deaths recorded to date to 3,550 classified as 2,665 COVID-19 deaths and 885 COVID-19 associated deaths,” he said.
He further stated that 372 patients were discharged among them 28 from facilities and 344 from community management, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 196,724, representing 97 percent recovery.
“We currently have 2,513 active cases, with 2,311 under community management and 202 admitted to our COVID-19 isolation facilities. Among those currently admitted, 144 are on Oxygen therapy and 54 are in critical condition,” he added.
Meanwhile, 192 Dose 1 and 236 Dose 2 AstraZeneca vaccinations as well as 2,882 doses of Johnson and Johnson were recorded under the vaccination programme.
Dr. Malama said the breakdown of the cumulative vaccinations by vaccine type includes 308,123 Dose 1 vaccinations which is 301,224 AstraZeneca and 6,899 Sinopharm and 219,082 fully vaccinated 106,293 Dose 2 AstraZeneca which is 35 percentof those that received dose 1.
He added that 106,453 vaccinations for Johnson and Johnson were also recorded and 6,336 Dose 2 Sinopharm which is 92 percent of those that received dose 1.
“Our cumulative usage of the 977,600 vaccines received to date now stands at 527,205 doses representing 54 percent,” Dr. Malama said.
This is contained in a statement availed to ZANIS in Lusaka today.
DR MALAMA THEY MIGHT BE A SURGE NEXT WEEK AFTER ELECTIONS AND CELEBRATIONS ,BE ON ALERT
Please get rid out this Malama send all doctors like him to our hospitals…you don’t need to be a medical doctor to be PS of MOH leave these administrative roles to experienced civil servants.