3,346 people died in 2021 from COVID-related complications, Health Minister Sylvia Masebo has announced.
The death toll was from the 236,958 COVID-19 cases recorded.
Ms. Masebo says of the cases recorded, 51 percent were among males and 49 percent among females.
32,949 representing 14 percent of the total cases were among people below 18 years while 86 percent were among those above 18 years old.
The Health Minister said among the many people who succumbed to the disease were civic and traditional leaders, healthcare workers and responders.
“The pandemic was worse in 2021 compared to the previous year, in which we recorded 20,725 cases including 388. This is mainly due to the appearance of new variants of the virus. This includes the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants, of which the delta was the cause of majority of infections, severe disease and deaths during the third wave. We are currently battling with the Omicron variant, which is more contagious and spreading fast across our communities,” she said.
“In 2021, we launched our national COVID-19 vaccination program as part of our response efforts to the pandemic. With support from Cooperating Partners and other stakeholders, Government successfully mobilized five types of COVID-19 vaccines, which are available across the country.”
She added, “As of 31 December 2021, more than 1,750,959 vaccinations were administered to our people. You will also recall that in an effort to improve the protection of our citizens, last week, the Government introduced booster vaccinations and also lowered the minimum eligible age from 18 years to 12 years, so as to cater for older children. Our vaccination campaign will continue until we reach the target of vaccinating over 70% of our eligible population, by June 2022.”
Ms. Masebo however said that over 200,000 patients recovered successfully and were discharged from COVID-19 treatment facilities across the country representing a recovery rate of 86 percent.
She has attributed the increase in cases and deaths last year compared to 2020 to the appearance of new variants such as the delta, Alpha and Beta of which the delta caused majority of infections, severe disease and deaths during the third wave.
Meanwhile, Ms. Masebo said the country in the last 24 hours recorded 1,544 new confirmed COVID-19 cases from 5754 tests conducted and 10 deaths.
She added that through Genomic Sequencing efforts, the country has detected the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in an additional 88 samples, all collected from Lusaka District bringing the number of Omicron variants detected so far to 197.
“We currently have 337 patients admitted to COVID-19 isolation centres across the country, among whom 105 patients are on oxygen. We continue to observe that more than 85% of the admitted patients are unvaccinated. I regret to also announce that we recorded 10 deaths.
Morning
unfortunately fight against Covid pandemic is cosmetic.
Ministry is soft on guidelines,too much lip service.
Yesterday i attended a burial at Memorial Park ,more than 50 people were in attendance.
Majority were in Masks but social distance wasnt there.
This event was attended by PS Magwende too.
So minister buckle up otherwise we are in losing this battle.
Again you are not visible in the actual combating of the spread,announcing daily update isnt good enough.
Get to the root.
Bwana Minister,adherence to your issued guidelines is minimal.
Address compliance starting at your ministry.
Yesterday i attended a burial for MOH staff at Memorial Park.
People were generally masked,but more than 50 people were in attendance,burial took more than 2hrs,no physical distance.
Ps Magwende was in attendance too.
Be seen to be proactive in prevention ,dont pride in just updates,get to work before its too late.
Compliance is non existent.
“We are currently battling with the Omicron variant, which is more contagious and spreading fast across our communities,” she said.” If this is true then we can not have only 197 cases of omicron in the country. Someone is not doing the job right. They are just testing throughout the country without identifying the variant. That is what we know. 197 is not an acceptable number.
This f00Iish woman is talking about last year when people are more interested in what her ministry will do this year
At its peak more than 3000 people were dying after 3 days in many Western countries! While it took a whole year to record that number here. Are we really supposed to be expending so much energy on this?!
Not that I agree with the language used by Kaizar, he is correct in making reference to this year. That is to say what will be done this year. What are the targets across the country? What other strategies will be in place and what will be enforced and how is it going to be enforced? What roles will Civic Society play in tackling covid? Is the education fit for purpose? These are important questions that need to be addressed.
This disease is not being taken seriously. The government needs to put its foot down and be more strict even at the expense of losing popularity. The initial measures announced whereby unvaccinated people were not going to be allowed into places of entertainment must be enforced.
What I have observed is that, there is less education on the issue of vaccination. I recently travelled to the village and people usually say ” amawele ya ku Lusaka” this shows people have no proper knowledge about this disease. We are also hearing that the OMICRON variant is mild. What does the MoH say about this?
What I have observed is that, there is less education on the issue of vaccination. I recently travelled to the village and people usually say ” amalwele ya ku Lusaka” this shows people have no proper knowledge about this disease. We are also hearing that the OMICRON variant is mild. What does the MoH say about this?