China has donated 100,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine to Zambia that will benefit 50, 000 people. Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Technical Services Kennedy Malama disclosed the development when he gave an update on Zambia’s Covid-19 situation today.
Dr. Malama said the Chinese made Sinopharm vaccine has been approved for use on the Zambian population and is expected in the country soon.
He said the country has placed high priority on the vaccination agenda in light of the looming third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are delighted that with the approval of the Sinopharm vaccine for use on the Zambian population, we anticipate to receive the 100,000 doses in due course pledged to Zambia by the People’s Republic of China and this will benefit 50,000 of our people being a two dose vaccine,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary assured Zambians that government is working hard to analyse the evolving epidemiological state of the pandemic and heighten the country’s response by making vaccines available and accessible to Zambians.
“Given the observed rise in our daily Covid-19 cases and our critical epidemiological analysis of the situation, it is clear that Zambia is entering the third wave and unless we ramp up our preventive interventions, the Covid-19 narration for our country may be so different in the coming weeks, a very undesirable situation indeed,” said Dr. Malama.
He stated that government will continue to cement its multisectoral approach in responding to Covid-19 by continually creating resilience in the health care systems in order to address other public health concerns in the country.
Dr. Malama further said government will continue to implement targeted testing as part of routine surveillance and case finding intervention, which in the last 24 hours has detected 213 new confirmed cases out of 3,642 tests conducted
He said the new cases have taken the cumulative number of confirmed cases recorded to date in the country to 95,263.
Dr. Malama said Lusaka, Eastern and Western provinces each recorded positivity rates of 11, 12, and seven, which are way above the World Health Organisation recommendation of five.
This indicates a higher transmission and likelihood of more people with Covid-19 in the community.
He said Lusaka recorded 130 new cases, followed by Eastern 21, Western 19, Southern 20, Central 13, North-western four, Northern three, Copperbelt two, and Luapula one while Muchinga recorded no new cases in the last 24 hours.
“The breakdown of the new cases and positivity (given in brackets) by province are as follows: Central 13 (3.4%), Copperbelt 2 (0.6%), Eastern 21 (12.3%), Luapula 1 (0.5%), Lusaka 130 (11%), Muchinga 0 (0%), Northern 3 (2.1%), North-western 4 (2.6%), Southern 20 (2.6%) and Western 19 (7.3%). With three of our ten provinces recording a positivity above 5%, this is indicative of higher transmission and that there are likely more people with COVID-19 in the community,” he said.
Dr. Malama also announced that three people, two from Levy Mwanawasa Hospital and one from Muchinga died in the last 24 hours from Covid-19 related deaths, taking the death toll to 1,281, with 721 classified as Covid deaths and 560 as Covid-19 associated deaths.
He said 204 discharges were recorded from both the Covid-19 isolation facilities and home management, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 91,956.
Dr. Malama said there are currently 2,026 active cases, of which 1,923 are under community management and 103 are admitted to Covid-19 isolation facilities.
He said in the last 24 hours, there were 17 new admissions and those presently in admission, 73 are on oxygen therapy and 13 in a critical condition.
The Permanent Secretary has therefore urged the general public to continue adhering to Covid-19 public health guidelines and measures of masking up, washing hands, maintaining physical distance, avoiding crowding and staying home and seeking medical attention early.
So now we are totally dependent on foreign donors, even for medical supplies including vaccines. But the Chinese don’t give away anything for free, they want something in return. So what has the corrupt PF government given away this time? Last time they signed away ZNBC, so what’s it this time? Zesco? Luapula? KKIA? Shame on you Lungu!
WELCOME DONATION BUT AT WHAT PRICE ????
WHEN YOU THINK OF THE !00’S OF MILLIONS WASTED TO KEEP SOME IN POWER WHEN IT COULD HAVE GONE TO VACCINES
SO AT THE END OF THE DAY ONE CAN ONLY ASSUME LIVES DONT MATTER
There you go again – 100,000 doses for a population of more than 16 million people. That’s less than 1%. At this rate, you may wait for years before you get enough doses to vaccinate even half the population.
My notion remains: better be proactive and rule your own destiny than sit and wait for others to save you. Avoiding mass gatherings at funerals, rallies and kitchen parties etc. is more effective in terms of controlling this pandemic than innoculation.
Thanks to our Chinese partners for this kind gesture. Meanwhile the f00Iish upnd diasporans who have failed to even build a toilet for their relatives here in zambia are busy criticising this donation. My friend fuseke!!! Just go wipe old people backside there abroad
WE DONT NEED TOILETS WHEN WE HAVE SEWERAGE COLLECTORS LIKE K-Z
BACK TO BUCKETS
If someone gives you a gift, it dies not mean you can’t buy.
China is so strategic. Sinopharm, was meant for Chinese (13,600) in Zambia. Beijing realised that even Zambian can get that same vaccine for free, hence donating this 100,000 batch.
Remember, the AZ from India was bought through African Union. It was not free. India is battling with a covid variant. Why not switch to Indian neighbour, China?
Really sad…these beggars have no shame
LCC SHOULD PREPARE 50 000 GRAVES in Leopards Hill Cemetery. Anything from China doesn’t last long.
@Kaizar. Just take your medication. The whole country knows you are a patient in need of help. Every one is afraid of your rabic bite.
Is this going to be the second dose?As first was from Astra zeneca.Lets have three doses as
Last from Pfizer. We are still waiting for a donation from Pfizer.In return what will Chinese
Get ?
ARE WE STILL TRUSTING CHINA AFTER HAVING READ THAT CHINA BUGGED THE AU DURING THE CONSTRUCTION OF IT?
Am not surprised because some here trust HH more than they trust themselves.
China has built the largest hydroelectric plant, 900bnKWh per year twice Brazil which comes second.
China went to make “Harmony” when USA cracked a whip using Google on Chinese Huawei.
China is the second supper power next to USA.
China’s Communism has told the world we can not only rely on Capitalism to make wealth.
During the recent financial crunch and commodity crisis, the capitalist courted the communists for assist.
Chinese hate won’t take us anywhere, but it will likely consume us.
Believe it or not. The same way the Zambian opposition treats the Chinese is much how America wants all to feel about China.
Lungu can be equated to America and HH to China. One is in charge and the other is aspiring to take lead. China, “all weather friend”, has helped Lungu in infrastructure with zeal and no one is ashamed of that however much the UPND argues.
Our Zambia receives anything that is brought at our doorstep as a gift poverty is not a good thing
The Chinese vaccine is at the bottom of the results or protection ladder against the South African and Uk variant at 10% effective, would not touch it also because China started Covid19 in Wuhan and Who still has not confirms if it was a animal transfer or a virous leak from a Chinese, i don’t trust these Chinaman as far as i can throw them.
Came from China I think it’s the least they should do, in fact it should be worldwide?? Who’s going to profit from this awful awful situation? In fact it could now go on for years we will or could never be the same again. What about the people who have lost their lives already? China is doing great sending rockets into space!! Poverty in places of China ?? Where’s the money coming from??
I remember 1968 Trade Fair badges being handed out from the Chinese stand with chairman Mao on only to be collected back by the police and authorities because they were band?? Now China has a major foot in Zambia’s door!! How things have changed!!!!!
I’m now convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that Africa is still lagging behind 500 years, compared to the Western world. Maybe 300 years behind the Asian world. African leaders act like helpless children who are completely dependent on foreign aid. And if these foreign countries decided to do harm to us, they would easily do it. And they’ve done it before, like what happened in Kenya some few years ago, when more than half a million Kenyan women were sterilized, after receiving some donated vaccines.. When are we going to have vaccines made in Africa, by African scientists, sponsored by African countries under the supervision of the African Union? This is a shame and a tragedy, that we continue to look to the West and Asia for all our medical needs. All these useless clueless…
All these useless, clueless African leaders need to go. We need a new breed of leaders in Africa, if we’re to stop this overdependence on foreign aid.