Minister of Health Dr Chitalu Chilufya has announced that Zambia has recorded the second death resulting from the Coronavirus.
Dr Chilufya said the deceased is a 50 year old hypertensive man with a chronic cardiac condition who was referred the University Teaching Hospitals from Kafue on 5th April 2020.
The Minister said the patient was put on a ventilator until the early hours of the third day when he died.
Dr Chilufya said the patient was being managed in an isolation ward in the Intensive Care Unit and samples were collected which on the day of his death confirmed that he had COVID-19.
He said the Ministry of Health has mounted investigations and is conducting a robust contact tracing programme and all the close contacts have since been contacted.
Dr Chilufya said the man was staying alone and all the people that might have come into contact with him in the last days of his life have been contacted.
He said the Intensive Care Unit at the University Teaching Hospitals has been fumigated and all the staff that came into contact have been quarantined and are being tested.
Meanwhile, Dr Chilufya said 22 tests were conducted of which non came out positive.
He said Zambia remains with a cumulative number of cases of 40 having admitted one more person to the statistics with two deaths.
He said one more person has been discharged bringing the number of discharges to 25 while patients in admission are 13 who are all stable except one on oxygen.
Dr Chilufya said of the 13 patients, two are on the Copperbelt and 11 in Lusaka.
This definitely not good news because it’s not known how the patient got COVID-19. Further, even the people that attended to him at Kafue didn’t know he had it. COVID-19 was only discovered later, so in case you think we’re completely on top of things you will shocked. Please don’t take things for granted, take care and obey the rules
This case is proof that we as country need to up our game on testing people for covid.
I was impressed by PF woman who made face masks from PF regalia and distributed to citizens.
Hope all parties do same, cut those chitenge and make scarves and masks.
This second death strange and scary, because this individual was attended by kafue to minus them knowing his status, uth only came to know after further investigations, mmmmmh! When you hear people insisting on people going out to put on masks better take tough protective measures, opposition have been crying for tests and more tests for more people so that we avoid such in future.infact its time to start testing for covid anyone coming to hospital with any ailments.
Sad development indeed. In addition to the observations made above, those who transported the deceased from home to the hospital/clinic in Kafue and from Kafue to UTH should be included on the list of those to be investigated. His fellow patients should be included on the list as well. The people that visited him and those that visited other patients admitted in the same ward with him. The fight against Covid 19 is still on. We have to be proactive now because this disease can spread like wildfire.
Here is the proof..we have been telling you about Chilufya’s useless sampling techniques and preparedness for covid-19. Here is a patient with covid 19 who was unknowingly admitted in a Kafue clinic then transfered to Lusaka further exposing more people …what does that tell you?
When we post comments we dont do so to appease anyone or troll all day …we do so for love of Zambia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God help Zambia that we don’t get high infection and death rates like Cameroon ,Burkina Faso and South Africa. This 2nd death is a wake up call so keep your distance and wash hands often.
And some fooooools are there congratulating this thief Chilufya …we need civil servants like a Chief Medical Officer or Chief Doctor heading this not a Politican/ Doctor/ PF Chief Campaign Manager/ PF Treasurer…we need serious people. He is lucky his boss is inept and weak leader.
Why was he staying alone? Did he know his Covid 19 status and was already in self-isolation?
Is he the type of men that like sampling women and so he decided to stay alone so that he could enjoy his freedom to mingle freely? How are we going to know the number of girlfriends that he had and now vectors of the Corona virus? This pandemic is bigger than what we are imagining.
Three days ago it was proudly stated to Zambians that there has been no infections of Covid-19 so far. Dr Chitalu Chilufya is hard working should be honoured with a Nobel Peace Prize, was the chorus of noise from dimwits including public enemy number one in Zambia, KZ. Three days ago this poor man was not detected Zambians were being told news that was false. While efforts are being made to secure enough testing kits at the moment to brag about with periods without testing as proof of succeeding in containing Covid-19 is self delusional out of political expediency. Let us continue to adhere to advice from experts and keep safe. Do not pander to the general public that see, we are on top of things – morons
This case will melt hearts of many. It has resurrected apprehension and may erode the hope built up in the last 5 days. God help us!!
Sad development indeed. This brings with it many questions because apparently, the deceased was not among the 39 initially recorded cases. It also confirms the urgency to expand testing capacity in all health centers accross the country. It would unfortunate and indeed disastrous to believe that we’re ahead of the virus when in fact we’re chasing it.
When I stated right here here on LT that someone who has never done a degree thesis using primary research approach of data collection and anaylzing would find Chilufya’s data collection strategies for a ministry not only irresponsible but down right laughable…I was called names by the usual stone-throwing Neanderthals …even the medical personnel on the ground dont even know how to check if a Patient has covid-19 outside Lusaka and there is Lazy Lungu talking about 50 tests a day.What a disgrace…just tell the people that you have limited test kits, how can Kafue Hospital transfer this patient to UTH…here again is the question I asked? How many ventilators have you procured?
*who has ever done a degree
Nine Chale – Shut up and go and sit on the fence where you belong spineless man
Its very fooolish for a minister to sit there and say proudly that there are zero cases today and we have got to the bottom of it after quarantining the Pakistani matrix …very irresponsible indeed …when you have travelers coming in from RSA, Zimbabwe, DRC. A landlocked country like Zambia can never have 39 cases ….if I was a President I would fire Chilufya and put a civil servant to head this battle.
Thousands will die like this if Zambians keep cheating themselves that there is no coronavirus tested positive in the last 6 days. How many did you test? Where I am 5000 new infections were tested in the last 24 hours after testing 100,000 people.
Chuma – These bungling morons think they are keeping Olympic medal scores…there is a President saying we tested 50 people on live press briefing without no once of shame when countries are thriving to do 5000 tests a day. WHO President Tedros Adhanom urged us not to play politics with covid-19 as it will expose you by giving you body bags.
When I tell people that I dont comment on LT because I allegedly support some party….I comment on LT because I stand for integrity and detest corrupt incompetent leaders stealing a living from the poor.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test.”
Headlines
Lusaka Business man dismissed from IBA Board for allegedly alarming the nation on COVID-19 numbers
By Chief Editor – April 9, 2020
Just yesterday Lusaka times had this screaming headline, today we have this murky covid case, yesterday again prime TV was closed by IBA anyone to connect the dots?
@Tarino..Germany has boosted its coronavirus test rate to 500,000 a week
April 10: South Africa cases pass 2000
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa have passed the 2000 mark. Figures released on April 10 put the figure at 2003 from 73,028 cases. The death toll has also hit 24 from 18 with 95 recoveries as of April 9.
The country is Africa’s most impacted and the big figures are credited to the rate of testing. Comparatively, most other African countries can only boast of below 10,000 tests as compared to South Africa’s 73,000 plus tests.
These PF bandits are untrustworthy, if you rely on them to give you accurate data or information, forget. They are very accurate in corruption and media houses and arresting people.
They have been feeding us with zero cases for the past 6 days and wait after Easter holiday and you will be shocked the figure they will give us. The fact is that they ran out of test kits not and no test has been conducted. Everything is stage managed here not to alarm the nation. The figure maybe close to 100 cases now.
Separating fact from fiction – Germany has been swift with its testing strategy and isolating asymptotic individuals way before Spain, Italy, UK and Spain …that’s why there have been minimum deaths. There is a shortage of test kits but Chilufya still has them in abundance who are we cheating…UK is subcontracting local bio labs to manufacture test kits.
Madilu system – If you can believe someone as dull as Edgar Lungu and his Health minister then I am afraid you are gullible and fooooolish!!
I have said time and time again that MOH does not need a Doctor as Minister…you need a non medical person in such circumstances that person would pushing professionals to give him results not Mr. “not it all Doctor of all disciplines”Chilufya a two bit crook.
Elo lwanya nomba! Mr. Bean beating the corona virus in a judo class! How alarmingly true and scary! People take care of yourselves!
Keep on lying to People and it will soon backfire when people start dropping dead in the streets…Politicians too much lies…just testing fellow Ministers and neglecting the general population
How many deaths have been recorded in Zambia vs the country’s you ran away to? Can you state the figures here then talk. Sadly a person has lost their lives. Deaths are expected with this virus that is why we keep trying to enforce social distancing. Also people with underlying health issues will face an uphill battle fighting this virus. So let us not be sensational over things that are logical. Kz
Corona looks to have blended into the population.
It is a virus, so it will strike when you are at your weakest.
And strike it will.
I am sad to say, but this is only the beginning.
This last case is scary however kudos to chilufya for laying out the truth concerning circumstances that led to this regrettable death. People take care
Dear Kaizer, from what has been revealed, the virus has spread and incubated. Imagine a man in Kafue, no one knows where he got it from. That source has spread this virus
This ma who has died is only a singular factor, and he is not alive to yell us who he may have got it from
It is like patient zero in Italy, no one knew the patient.
This covid is nad for people with underlying conditions, but ow we k ow that it is bad for even people without any comorbidities. Please refresh your mind on this
Kaizer, this virus can attack u and it can end your life.
Now brother, today mark’s a new day in this fight, and am kindly asking you to also change your language.
Use your popularity to now help mentor as many people to wear masks, and stay home unless.whem required to…
Only finding out he had Coronavirus after he died meaning he has infected 59 000 people…if its true he died of Coronavirus….its a highly infectious disease and Chitalu Chilufya thinks its something he can lie about…shame on PF bandits
We have to worry, because it’s like the health workers who attended to him in kafue don’t know the symptoms. They should have done better.
Seems like such sad news is making some people very happy. This man was living alone, with underlying conditions. How does one expect health personnel to have reached him? To point to this case and use it to project it as incompetence on the part of the testing system is wrong. If we are not careful in the way we handle this, we shall take people with common colds under the suspicion of COVID-19, subject them to COVID-19 testing and eventually expose them to COVID-19. There are a lot of these common colds, flus, etc that we have lived with in this part of the world – we need to be very careful.
What is scary is the possibility that covid-19 arrived in Zambia before the first cases were detected and people out there could have the symptoms without knowing what is really affecting them. Why I say so is because the minister of health said his ministry tracked everyone In contact with the first cases reported and subsequent cases that came after and the areas most likely affected where areas within Lusaka. Are we doing enough tests to curb this pandemic?
Rowdy – How can he lie when he has been exposed with that paper trail….a patient from Kafue to UTH as there is no proper training and equipment…this is problem with being ignorant you can even thank your friend who owns a brothel/ Motel for employing your beautiful daughters as a receptionists at his establishment.
The fact remains the same, Chilufya who I know is a medical doctor and his team under the command of ECL still need praises. This case is a result of carelessness of people. Do not blame Chilufya. There is something they have been telling us not to do or do which was done or not done hence that result. Chilufya and group what they have done so far if was not done what could have been the situation. Let this not this take us back. Let us support them as they meticulously trace chains of possible contacts of this case. Give ideas not judgements so that possible transmissions can be interrupted by providing information on all links.
The question we can ask where did he get it and how? So that people can post possibilities.
The question we can ask where did he get it within Kafue or from Lusaka or somewhere else and how? So that people can post possibilities.
I do not think this issue of covid can be handled by government alone. A fight of this nature must involve everyone.
This man, and the source from where he got the virus, had not followednwocial distancing.
But this is only.one problem.
The second problem is ability by nurses to quickly notice the symptoms and act.
Let this not repeat itself and I know Dr Chikufya a team has gone on the ground.
Let us not push too much blame
Now is the time to act and start imagining that we might go into a total lockdown in the near future.
Let us train our people, all people, politicians of all.walks and creeds, leaders, stakeholders, families and friends, and u and me, to unite and fight this virus.
Finally I appeal to government to partner with other political parties through…
for your own info the 51 south koreans who had tested negative after been healed from the covid 19 have again tested positive.They say its more deadly when it re-occurs. Check also on them that were declared healed.
This is not for the brainless, study the matrix of this virus, its deadly.If America is dancing who are you not to skank.
That Phiri guy from IBA mentioned this fact in a tweet and yet you fired him. Who is having the last laugh?
What ever the case lets all fight this deadly virus tooth and nail, the government is trying to do all it can in its capacity but the onerous is on us.Each one teach one, we shall defeat this virus.Do not relent or be complacent, lets approach it like it has just started.
More social distancing. Zambia Africa and the world will overcome this. Be vigilant. Bathe, was everything, rich people donate to hospitals now. Increase doctors and nurses. Also clean up everything everything. Zambia is on a good trajectory, just increase pressure.
Convid-19 started jn China in late 2019, many nations could be affected well before the time they tested and confirmed their first cases. This could explain why countries that put up measures to prevent the virus when it ran rampant in China are affected as well. The virus could have had entered countries before the fight against it started that is why it is hard to explain how fast it has affected people in different places so easily despite the measures put up.
If we have had no infections for five days but we have two deaths we should get very worried about what will happen when we have more reports of infections.
We could be fighting an enemy that is and has been among us before this fight started. Let’s rethink the strategy in our fight against this pandemic.
We have the right to get worried but at the same time follow all necessary precautions when we are up and about.
Supprisingly there are people who were waiting to hear this sad news and you can tell from their tone in their comments…..which is so unfortunate.
Even the most prepared countries are stressed with this enemy. Lets all be vigilant and if possible stay at home.
The point that was being made before, was that stating that ‘there have been no cases for 5 days’ did not mean anything – in a situation where you do not yet have a broader testing capacity. Some people saw this to mean that Zambia was in control. It also did not mean much, as I have stated several times, when the borders are not as secure and we still allow groups (50 people) to mix. Where are we with PPE? There are economic considerations, admittedly, but this is where you need heads to think and act in the circumstances – how you will support the vulnerable while you enforce measures more strictly. I have always thought we are slow (just as some Western countries were, but from whom we should have learnt) We have not enforced travel, tracing and social distancing firmly. We have not…
… stated where we are with PPE, hospital preparedness and wider testing plans
Ukko tiye nayo mwanya ,mwayamba kumwalila manje. We told you ,this so called minister has only been reading figures from his skull. The numbers are way way higher than what he is been feeding us.Look at how he describes the diceased too ” A hypersensitive 50yr old with a Cardiac disease”? Even if u dont ve manners- is this how u wud describe someone else’s husband/father sure?
This is what happens when you ve no new infections for 5 days in row,its straight death. Which means, new infections were there, and that this kama Chilufya didnt give a damn for the sake of procuring his good name of Health Minister so he can be voted as next President. Get it from me guys ” Mr.Chilufya is a cadre in PF” jst like those on the streets, only difference is that he is wearing a suit & at city market they wear torn shots.
Comments demeaning Dr Chilufya are not fair, what do you understand by governments across the world doing lock downs? The answer is simple, no government on earth including USA and UK knows exactly who has Covid-19 and who doesn’t have.Only people tested are known. USA has at yesterday had just tested 2 million + people out of a population of 322 million. It was here Mr Lusambo was called on manner of names for leading the arrest of the owner of Chris Mall for disobeying government directives. The same reasons you are mentioning here that theres Covid-19 out there is the reason Mr Lusambo is doing what he is doing to protect innocent people who may end up contacting people like those caught from Chris Mall who could have Covid-19 and they don’t know.
Our tragedy is that all these years these politicians have been stealing money instead of investing in human resources and infrastructure in the health sector, among other things. Kaili they have always ran to india and south africa for medical treatment. Now we are together at uth. Please ba Chilufya, orient your medical staff, give them PPEs, we need to protect them beacuse they should be able to protect us. Hiding the truth will not help, if you don’t handle this matter well I can assure you even PF need a sacrificial lamb and you are the one already in the gallows. Not to mention we will sue you for criminal negligence when this is over and you’ve lost the next election. People’s lives are at stake, especially our poorest who can’t even afford to stay home, even to buy hand…