President Edgar Lungu has directed for the temporal closure of Nakonde Border effective tomorrow 11 May 2020, health minister Dr. Chitalu Chilufya has disclosed.
The closure comes after the surge in COVID-19 cases in the area and to facilitate mass screening , contact tracing and to ensure that various measures are implemented to avoid further spread of the virus into and out of Nakonde which has now become the epicenter.
Speaking during the latest update, Dr. Chilufya, therefore, said cases in Nakonde are being analyzed and validated and a comprehensive figure will be given in tomorrow’s update.
Dr Chilufya, however, disclosed that 15 new cases have been recorded in Lusaka out of the 250 tests done in the last 24 hours while 5 more discharges have also been recorded.
“The cases are 1 from Chilanga 3 from Chawama,3 are from Chipata compound, the other 3 are from the catchment area of Levi Mwanawasa hospital,1 is from Ngombe and from 3 people who traveled via Ethiopian airlines through Kenneth Kaunda International Airport,” he said.
He said cumulatively cases now stand at 267 with discharges at 170, while active cases are 143 with 7 deaths.
“With effect from tomorrow no traffic will be allowed in and out of Nakonde and please ensure that you stay at home,” Dr. Chilufya said and assured that a swift response will be done in a multisectoral approach with other line ministries to ensure that all is done effectively.
Dr. Chilufya further assured that the government is being transparent at every stage and clarified that the President is not being misled with the numbers emphasizing that numbers of cases are reported as they are received.
“We have no business playing around with numbers, we have no business of not being transparent because that does not add value to the COVID-19 response,” Dr. Chilufya said.
And Home Affairs Minister Steven Kampyongo has said that his ministry will in the course of this week deploy more officers to Nakonde district during the period of the temporary closure.
Mr. Kampyongo said that the police officers will be deployed to the district to ensure that law and order is maintained amidst of observing the public health regulations.
Mr. Kampyongo said that members of the public must cooperate with the police and to avoid been caught off guard. Mr. Kampyongo has further urged the traveling public to stay away from Nakonde during the temporal closure to avoid unnecessary inconveniences from the police.
He has since advised the residents of Nakonde to avoid unnecessary movements by staying home.
Discharges stand at 117 not 170.
Truck drivers and commercial sex workers are the two suspect agents of spreading Covid 19 at the Nakonde border crossing.Deal with these two groups asap.
I remember telling ‘genuine bloggers’ on this forum that Nakonde should be closed or restricted given the high number of truck drivers showing up in data but I was ignored now you have here is panicking. I told Lungu to fire this man or better create a Task Force of independent medical experts and civil servants as Chilufya will continue to embarrass him.
Zambian Citizen – discharges just means someone who was quarantined for 14 days not severe on a ventilator…its laughable no wonder that clueless Diamond TV reporter was asking that lady on TV if she was given medication for her flu when she was in care.
Update blackout, that is what it is Dr Chilufya.
Lusaka Times – April 30, 2020
The provincial administration in Muchinga has rescinded the decision it made two days ago to temporarily ban public buses from Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces to enter Nakonde district. Muchinga Province Minister Malozo Sichone told ZANIS in Chinsali today that following the arrival of health experts in Nakonde, the provincial administration has temporarily allowed the flow of buses into Nakonde.
Who looks more foooolish now?Central Govt of Lazy Lungu for overriding the minister’s decision 10 days ago
Imwe baffikala, na Chilufya wenu, stop stigmatize coronavirus patients. Covid is not sexually transmitted.
So the provincial minister was right before when he announced that buses should not come to nakonde. He was right the first time
Shut down chi Lusaka too, fire security guard Lusambo, his criminal methods didn’t work. Send Lusambo to Nakonde to fight with truck drivers.
Deploy ZNS in Lusaka.
Good decision. If there’s a way that goods can still be allowed to flow, that would be even better. We can also do better identifiying cases at the Airport as passengers come in. Are they not abiding by self-quarantine regulations? We can’t afford to let the situation get out of control.
Thanks for the update, anyhow and all the best! We are counting on you.
Twende – Yes, the Provincial Minister made the right call within his powers to contain the virus…but this should have been a sign to act but Chilufya’s so called “experts” who are probably compromised as is everyone at MOH today rescinded his decision.
I have told people time and time again that this man Chilufya needs to step aside …during MMD we had Cholera Task force headed by civil servants why not now…why should one man manipulate, suppress data, receive donations, not account for anything.
Exactly nine chale. That is our challenge for now. Ensuring business as usual while restricting the spread of the virus. It is always going to be a challenge. However, with hard work and the current team we have, we have every confidence that this will be a walk over. We have done very well so far and continue to listen and analyse various sources of information before making informed decisions. Unfortunately a few people in diaspora think running a country is like running the cleaning department of a care home. Kz
Ninah Cherry – Anyone would have guessed your response even if Lazy Lungu tomorrow reverses his decision you will say blah blah good call
We told them and warned them. Now I hope a million people die in Zambia so that this pathetic government learns a lesson. Very laughable!
@Tarino Orange, hate the word ‘Chipante- pante’ or not, this is it. Chipante-pante regime.
The sad thing is there are d0gs that came here to blog thinking everything is a joke. They try to mislead others.
Regarding corona, I am afraid we just have to live with it until a vaccine is found. Zambia, like the UK and USA, missed the chance to get a grip on this virus early on.
We have to accept that more lives will be lost in this first round of corona wave. There will be many many more rounds to come, and this virus will mutate.
One other worrying thing is that even those that have “recovered” can continue to have symptoms and relapses over several months. We still do not know if they can infect others.
Listen to the small wi11y rabbid impersonators on this forum at your own peril.
Educate yourselves.
Indigo do not let these clowns and fakes get to you. For me I just ignore them. It is best to do so for your mental health.
Just ignore the silly attention seeking UK based impostor he may foool gullible bloggers like Nine Chale and daft naive girl Diaspora Lady but his agenda is simple he is trolling with no affiliation to PF.
One critical issue that this is bringing out is that Tanzania could be facing a serious outbreak which Magafuli is downplaying with politics, he needs to get his act together or else landlocked Zambia will pay heavily
When all fails the impostor resorts to cloning accounts and tarnishing …to be honest I dont care as “genuine bloggers” know where I stand on issues!!
This site is becoming too stressful for my mental health! I almost left to Zambia watch dog few weeks ago. I feel like leaving again. Lusakatimes you will lose your best bloggers if this carries on.
My psychiatrist always tells me that leaving toxic environments is the best strategy for healthy living.
Quite intriguing! Lusaka has been an epicenter for a while now and has never been on lockdown for Mass screening. Kafue had registered one case which was not even initially covid related but was locked down for a day and now it’s Nakonde. Already numbers from Lusaka have been on an upswing and yet the powers that be have not ordered for lockdown. This haphazard way of doing things by Mr ATM and the president is worrisome.
My only fear now is that these Covid-19 cases must really be genuine cases not intended for other ulterior motives, otherwise, all the good intentions of fighting the virus will come to nothing. There are a lot of holes in the reporting of these cases which can put doubt in peoples’ minds. Most Zambians are not stupid and sooner or later will see the truth. In today’s briefing, the minister reported that Nakonde samples are being analysed and full results will be given tomorrow. Well, after 79 cases yesterday one would assume the sampling in Nakonde should have been continuous so that we could have had results even today. The 82 year old Nampundwe lady gives a lot of question marks. What was her travel history to come into contact with covid-19 carriers or does it mean anybody who dies…
With effect from tomorrow no traffic will be allowed in and out of Nakonde and please ensure that you stay at home,” Dr. Chilufya said and assured that a swift response will be done in a multisectoral approach with other line ministries to ensure that all is done effectively. This is an act of madness. It’s like droping water into sand deliberately then saying now we are going pick it up with bear hands. U discovered cases yesterday Wat abt those who left Nakonde before the tests where do u think they are?
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does it mean anyone who dies in unclear circumstances should be covid related? Hopefully it will not be the case of someone who cried wolf, and when it actually came nobody was available to help.
This PF government really dropped the ball on Covid 19. Very incompetent administration.
From the way numbers of posite cases are coming out its clear that Nakonde is not the only place infected hardly. This attitude of chasing time instead of being ahead of time is really useless. Is it really hard to just establish uniform testing centers at every provincial head q. And then close in out movements from inter provinces even for 2 weeks so as to allow districts from each province to run tests take samples to proinvincial HQs and then get a country wide picture of positI’ve cases. Bcz thus 2xx # of cased is just a representation of 2% of the country bcz u hv nt tested the entire districts
Incompetent decision making. Public transport move from district to district carrying people from different provines locking down one district is not solving the problem. Can u catch scattered birds that have gone in different directions by following the fat bird and ignoring the slim ones when they also have the ability to spread? PF administration has no management skills, they have failed to analyse thus risk. It was kafue now it’s Nakonde and next it’s all the districts then how now are u going to scatter healthough experts in all directions at once?
I think it’s wrong to say Zambia has recorded 267 cases when u have only carried out serious testing in few places that maybe represent only 5% of the country. What kind of statistics is that? U even say from the low numbers it shows that health expertise are doing their job. If they were doing their jobs samples wouldn’t be transported to few testing places instead samples would be tested in every district or province and statistics was supposed to show records of each district that way u can say zambia has recorded this or that. Not where other districts are only conducting interviews of people in public transport and taking temperature is that really testing? The truth is that zambia has recorded 267 cases fromy 5 or 10% testing and the remaining 90% we don’t know how many cases…
Lucid you must be bored dead there in total lockdown abroad. Looking at your diabolical posts ,When was the last time you had human interaction ?
The opportunity to stop the spread of the Corona Virus was lost in the initial stages.If we had at least closed the country for two weeks and stop the movement of Public transport. During this period only trucks transporting essential good were to be allowed .
Namibia ,Botswana and Zimbabwe did it. Today the COVID-19 W.H.O Report: Namibia 16, Botswana 23, Zimbabwe 34 and none of these countries have reported any new infections for the past two weeks. Zambia 167 case with 14 new cases, Tanzania 509 cases!
Various bloggers including myself gave meaningful and sensible advises but we have been rebuffed and insulted by kz.
Well, fellow Zambians just protect yourself and your families. Don’t hope for anything new from this pf govt.
What are we doing about the truck drivers and prostitutes matrix? Remember truck drivers touch many districts in hours, I thought each district security arm had a plan of ensuring that truck drivers are escorted out the district and handed to another district jurisdiction making sure they do not make any close human to human contacts with the populations in each district they pass through. We can’t just end at making people to wash hands, mask up but leaving other things to chance.
Lungu provide leadership , as these boy and girl will make you a failed leader ever seen in Zambia
edwin zulu – You can take a donkey or horse to drink water at the pond but you can not force it to drink…in a nutshell Edgar Chagwa Lungu is not a leader he has never been, old man Sata chose him as he knew he had no vision and was going to just warm the seat till he recovered…the selfish people who put Lazy in that seat chose him as a compromise nothing more….I have said we don’t have a President in Zambia. Some genuine PF bloggers (not impostors) who have been here on LT know that there is truth in what I am stating…in times of crisis that when leaders raise Lungu is still sat on the pit latrine and being made a foooool of by Chilufya.
Even the provincial administration there in Muchinga showed more leadership than Lazy Lungu and all those nincompoops in Cabinet in Lusaka stealing a living at the expense of poor Zambians.
I don’t remember our government asking diasporans for advice. If we wanted to hear your criticisms we would have asked. However we couldn’t care less what you think. I have heard some of you claim that because you have relatives here it then gives you the right to spill your criticism and hate about Zambia. Well for your information we have not forced your relatives to stay here. You can collect them if they feel the same as you. Kz
Bally please come n rescue us from these rascals….we tired of empty tins.
Very soon Zambia will be the epicenter of the corona virus out break in Southern Africa
Engineer we rebuke your evil prayers and wishes you demon.
The problem with these rats in PF government like outsmarting each other . It is just over a week ago when Mr Sichone the provincial minister for Muchinga almost closed and only Edgar Lungu and his good for nothing Chilufya Chitalu objected. We warned them to close Nakonde border and even the town itself. I personally warned to do the same with Kasumbalesa border. They never listened. These are your mad leaders who are very irresponsible. PF must go!
I think the explosion of COVID-19 cases in Nakonde is mainly due to cross border movement of people and traffic (mostly trucks) between Zambia and Tanzania. Pres Magufuli of Tanzania has refused to implement any sort of measures to slow down the spread of the virus in that country. Even the tiny number of cases Tanzania is reporting is very suspect considering what is going on in that country…..which is practically nothing as far as mitigation measures are concerned.
If you compare other border towns, for instance Livingstone or Chirundu, you will notice that the situation is totally different. Even areas that border other countries such as Malawi, DRC, Namibia, Mozambique, or Botswana, the situation is not as alarming. The reason is simple, these neighboring countries took the…
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Pandemic seriously from the start and have done all they can to control the spread of the virus among their populations. Tanzania on the other hand is a COMPLETE JOKE! That is why the Nakonde border should have been closed many weeks ago.
I seriously doubt the spike of COVID cases in Nakonde is due to intra-traffic in and out of Nakonde like some people here are suggesting. Just think about it, if this was the case many other cities would be experiencing a similar sudden spike in infections. Especially cities along the line of rail from Livingstone all the way to cities in the Copperbelt since these cities have more Bus and Truck (both local and international) traffic than Nakonde. So one has to ask; why Nakonde? And the reason is obvious…..Nakonde is a border town…
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with Magufuli’s Tanzania!
Look, it’s clear from China, Wuhan district, a severe lockdown WORKS. Other countries that have had long lockdowns are now surfacing having brought down infection rates, Italy, Spain. In UK today, we’ve seen that the infection rate is way down after first phase lockdown of some 2 months …Result.
There is no sense to Zambia refusing a sensible long lockdown. We should have lockdown longer because we had almost a few dotted infections. If those had not entered the population, we could have been a shining example of effective strategy. We are now seeing the beginning of a rise in numbers which are naturally not accurate because of the difficulty to capture that data accurately. DO NOT OPEN ENTERTAINMENT/LEISURE INDUSTRY AT THIS TIME. It’s self defeating.
Good decision that is a potential risk of imported COV 19 given the stance not to implement strict lock-down measures by Babalao in Our neighboring TZ It will help both nations eventually to ensure Business to continue with safety measures in Place We recently witnessed the death of 2 ministers in TZ and the Virus has continues to spread and kill people more that if a lockdown or social distance e measures where in place there So nakonde is surely a sport light much more that Chirundu and Kazuungula because there in Botswana and Zim there are noticeable efforts that insulates Zambia also
I met the guy who clones x PF adviser,he lives in a council flat in East London n his name is Mavuto Daka. His narrative is that the real Kaizar Zulu was his mentor n he feels he’s giving back by praising the PF leadership. Coincidentally , Mavuto also loves Whiskey n doesn’t like wine. So don’t mind the LKT imposter.
Tanzania has 460+ cases, when PF/Dr Chilufya finally reveals the 300+ cases expected from Nakonde, Mr Lungu will have beaten Mr Magufuli clean on number of cases.
Londoner you have made me laugh and made my night. My wife regina is upset because I laughed so loud. Thank you for getting me in trouble on mother day. Haha . I am in Zambia my friend. I would never survive in cold London. I just visit such places to do shopping once in while. Kz
We should all be very worried. Look at the graphs on worldometer and you will see Italy, Spain and all those other countries that were badly hit in Europe have stabilised and their daily cases are coming down. We are the opposite. Even Sa has flattened the curve following their lockdown. We even had the beauty of a headstart and we squandered it due to inadequate, reactive leadership. This virus will be with us for months to come, if not longer. The country cried for a lockdown, all those donations that have been received could have been directed to those in the form of food parcels who otherwise could not have survived with a lockdown. Instead, we have no breakdown or knowledge of where they have gone to, and what they have done. The leadership is laughable in Zambia. We have already…
..seen how MOH is drowning, they are out of their depth. When you have 3 or 4 active cases you can keep on top of tracing. Now, it is out of control. Zambia needs help in how to manage this virus. We have already been made a case study on how not to run an economy, now we will be a case study on how not to combat COVID19. Everyone else will be planning their recovery, whilst Zambia will still be trying to stop the bleeding. We need to copy SA’s response, there is still time for damage limitation.
@ Tarino Orange, there you go again with your fascination for me, Kaizar Zulu and Nine Chale, why draw us into your comments? By the way, our offer to bail you out on your kaloba with Kapema still stands. Also, stop wishing death upon Zambians. What kind of a human being wishes death upon innocent people?? Have a heart!!
One day shortly before Chagwa fired him, Kainyokola Zulu was seriously masturbating in his office next to Chagwa’s one at Plot 1. He had HH in his mind & came so hard that he couldn’t help screaming out! He then realised Chagwa was next door & that he would have heard & known what Kainyokola was doing so he quickly transitioned into singing the old legendary “aPhiri anabwela”. Ka mamabala Number 1! Chagwa for once wasn’t fooled & fired the fool.