A study from mortuaries in Lusaka has suggested that Zambia could be under counting Covid-19 deaths.

Research by Boston University School of Public Health, which has not yet been peer reviewed points that many Covid deaths have simply not been registered.

Researchers, who took nose and throat swabs from the bodies of recently deceased people at the University Teaching Hospital mortuary in Lusaka, found a far higher incidence of Covid-19 than expected.

Of 364 bodies tested, Covid-19 was detected in 70.

Lawrence Mwananyanda, who led the research, said it cast doubt on the view that Covid-19 had “somehow skipped” Africa.

“If our data are generalisable, the impact of Covid-19 in Africa has been vastly underestimated,” the authors of the paper wrote.

The study conducted between June and September last year, the median age of death of those testing positive for Covid-19 was 48, much younger than in developed countries.

Seven were children, including a baby only a few months old.

“Oral autopsies”, conducted by talking to relatives, found that many of the 70 deceased had exhibited Covid-like symptoms, including coughing and shortness of breath, in addition to testing positive on their postmortem swab tests.

However, Dr Mwananyanda conceded it was impossible to be certain that Covid-19 was the cause of death.

Of the 70 patients, only 19 had been admitted to hospital while the remaining 51 had died in the community where Covid-19 testing was almost non-existent, he said.

“In Lusaka now, everybody knows someone who has died of Covid or who is in the hospital with Covid,” he said.

Dr Mwananyanda estimated that Zambia’s official Covid-19 death toll of 723 might underestimate the true level by as much as tenfold, a pattern that he said could be replicated in many African countries where Covid-19 testing is limited and the cause — or even the fact — of death goes routinely unrecorded.

Supreme court judge Elizabeth Muyovwe has died. Justice Muyovwe aged 64, was admitted at Maina Soko military hospital died this morning at 06:30 hours.

Judiciary Spokesperson Slavain Kalumba confirmed the demise of Justice Muyovwe.

Her father was the late Mainza Chona (1930 to 2001), one-time Vice President of the Republic of Zambia (1970 to 1973).

In 1979, she graduated from the University of Zambia, School of Law, with a Bachelor of Laws.

She was admitted to Zambia Bar in 1981.

She worked for the Zambian Ministry of Legal Affairs, as a State Attorney and as an Assistant Senior Legal Aid Counsel.

She then was hired by Lima Bank Limited, as a Senior Legal Officer, serving there from 1988 until 1991.

She concurrently served as a part-time research associate for “Women and Law in Southern Africa”, between 1989 and 1993.

She was the Vice Chairperson of the Lands Tribunal from 1996 until 1998, and served as the Director of the Legal Aid Clinic for Women between 1991 and 1998.

She lectured, on a part-time basis at the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE), from 1999 until 2003, lecturing in the area of domestic relations.

In 2002, Justice Elizabeth Muyovwe was appointed as an Alternate Judge of the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone.

After working as High Court Judge for many years, she was appointed as Justice of the Supreme Court Judge in 2010.

Economic and Equity Party (EPP) leader, Chilufya Tayali has said that there is no time for dialogue now as the country is looking at elections this year.

Responding to calls United Party for National Development(UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema for Dialogue, Mr. Tayali said that the UPND leader is calling for dialogue because he has realized that he faces a big defeat in the August elections.

Mr. Tayali said that it is fear of losing elections that has motivated Mr. Hichilema to call for dialogue at this stage, adding that in 2016 and 2017, Mr. Hichilam rebuffed calls for dialogue despite a lot of people begging him to do so and that this is just a distress call from the UPND leader.

Last week Mr. Hichilema called for a sincere dialogue with emphasis that the church leads the process. In his letter to the Three Church Mother Bodies (Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Council of Churches in Zambia and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia), Mr Hichilema stated that the nation only had the church to turn to for counsel and guidance in times such as these, indicating that Zambia is at cross roads; for the first time after a decade of strong economic growth resulting in lack of employment opportunities especially among the young people who to a large extent have been exposed to anti-social vices.

The UPND leader also stated that the poor state of the economy has been exacerbated by stifling national debt which needs to be addressed seriously.

He further indicated that Zambia was supposed to have been building on the accolade of being an oasis of peace for the role the nation played in the liberation of neighbouring countries but bemoaned the nation’s steadily sliding into a nation of perpetual strife.

He further indicated that hate speech, psychological and physical violence have reached unprecedented levels for a country that was once held in high esteem for upholding democratic tenets.

Mr Hichilema cited the selective application of the law, especially the Public Order Act as one issue which has heavily contributed to the nation’s decline in good governance standing.

“My Lord Bishops, these are but just a few selected threats facing our country and require the collective participation of all citizens in finding solutions. We will turn to you, our spiritual leaders to lead us into an open and honest discussion to resolving these challenges of our time. Our trust in you is based on your tested leadership that saw us usher in the Multiparty democracy in 1991, facilitating the peaceful transfer of power in 2011 and your continued efforts at fostering dialogue among political parties,” reads part of the letter.

“My Lord Bishops, as we have consistently put it, we have always been and are committed to genuine dialogue, led by the Three Church Mother Bodies (Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops – ZCCB, Council of Churches in Zambia – CCZ, and Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia – EFZ). This is because we believe that we all have a responsibility to leave this country better than we found it. We desire a Zambia, where all live in peace, harmony and love, irrespective of any divide.”

Mr Hichilema’s letter dated 28th January 2021, has been copied to the Principal Private Secretary at State House, the Electoral Commission of Zambia, the Chief Justice and the Human Rights Commission.

Others copied to include, the Minister of Religious and National Guidance, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Home Affairs and the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) President.