Minister of Health Jonas Chanda says the COVID-19 cases requiring admission has continued to reduce with the number being less than one hundred, for the past six days.
Dr Chanda adds that as of today, the country has seen no admissions in Central, Luapula and Western provinces, a similar case with isolation facilities outside Lusaka District in Lusaka Province.
The Minister notes that as the ministry winds down the operations on some of the COVID-19 isolation centres, it has continued taking stock of the equipment and human resource invested, in order for them to be adequately prepared for a possible third wave, which may require scaled up capacity.
He indicated in a statement released to ZANIS in Lusaka today that training of health staff in emergency response, remains top priority, not only for a possible COVID-19 third wave but for other eventual disease outbreaks.
“On that note, we wish to wholeheartedly thank all the frontline health workers in the entire response. It has not been easy to work under emergency conditions for over one year now,” he said.
“We thank you for your efforts to save the lives of our people and subsequently turning the situation around while managing the other disease burdens such as infectious and non- communicable including Maternal and Child Health issues.” Dr Chanda added.
And the Minister has announced that his ministry has enhanced its surveillance activities during the long Easter weekend, including in congregate settings such as churches and institutions of higher learning.
He noted that in the past, the Ministry of Health observed a disappointing level of laxity among people gathering at social events and reiterated the need to continue adhering to the five health guidelines, as they remain cardinal in the country’s efforts to fight the pandemic.
“Please note that the COVID-19 public health guidelines have not changed. The five golden rules remain the bedrock of our efforts to curb community transmission. We must maintain our positivity below the recommended 5% across all the provinces if we are to further reduce community transmission,” urged Dr Chanda.
Meanwhile, the Minister has revealed that Zambia has in the last 24 hours recorded 181 new cases out of 4,814 tests conducted, representing a 4 percent positivity and bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases recorded to date to 88,730.
The Minister of Health has stated that the new cases and positivity broken down by province shows that Central Province recorded 39, Lusaka 31, North-western 22, Luapula Province 20 and 16 for Eastern Province.
Others were 16 from Southern Province, Western 14, Muchinga 10, 8 from Northern and 5 from the Copperbelt Province.
“Regrettably, we recorded three new deaths among them two from Lusaka and one from North-western Province. The cumulative number of COVID-19 related deaths recorded now stands at 1,215, classified as 678 COVID deaths and 537 COVID-19 associated deaths,” he highlighted.
And Dr Chanda added that a combined 127 discharges were recorded from both the COVID-19 isolation facilities and home management, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 84,825 representing 96 percent.
The Minister further stated that currently the country has 2,690 active cases, of which 2,610 are under community management and 80 are admitted to COVID-19 isolation facilities.
“Among those admitted, 60 are on Oxygen therapy and 10 are in critical condition,” he said.
Dr Chanda has further appealed to all members of the public to be on guard during this Easter weekend, adding that the reduction in case positivity is not cause for not adhering to the health guidelines.
As usual Jonas barking out figures but he is clueless as to why…next week he will shamelessly inflate the figures when he hears that UN is giving out grants to developing countries hit hard with covid-19.
THIS MAN APPEARS TO BE A STRANGER TO THE TRUTH
WOULD HE BE BETTER SAYING FROM THE REPORTS I HAVE RECEIVED
COVID IS IN ZAMBIA BIG TIME !!! BUT THE NOT ALL STATIONS ARE AKNOWLEDGING THIS AND SENDING PROPER REPORTS
Just because you might have seen a reduction in cases doesn’t mean they are not there. So don’t start relaxing on the vaccines please. Let’s prevent the third wave especially now that we will be going for elections whereby social distancing and masking will be thrown to the wind during election frenzy.
They call us poor corrupt African governments and yet we have handled covid better than them in their so called developed worlds. The upnd diasporans are now gnashing their teeth in anger at this great news. You upnd diasporans are cursing yourselves. You will all die soon.
By the way sorry to our neighbors for the loud music. We are eating and drinking and celebrating Easter as a Christian house hold.
The troll SHOULD WELL KNOW ITS CALLED HIDE AND SEEK
WHERE IS THE LIGHTENING B0LT ??????????
CHRISTIAN HOUSEHOLD ????
JESUS SUPPOSIDLY ROSE AGAIN BUT THE Pff WONT
Kaizer Zulu, chicken farmers who are ordering chicks (broiler, layers, village) are crying over a 30 to 60 day waiting period when they pay for them. All chicken hatcheries in the country have prioritized supplying Congo DRC for the Dollar market were information is that they are selling for nearly 3 to 4 times the price. Is this how PF is running your agriculture policies?
@twende
Thats not quite correct but you are right about the critical shortage .. hatcheries reduced their breeding stocks due to a reduction in chick sales when stock feed prices went up .. they have restocked now so hopefully in the near future all will be back to normal
a relative works for one of the hatcheries
All thanks to the talented and well-qualified health minister Dr. Chanda.
HH and his supporters always criticized President Lungu for his decision but eventually it turned out to be the best one.
President Lungu and his government worked really very hard to control the rising covid cases. They say hard work always pays off and its result is in front of us!!!
Even though it is great news, still we all need to strictly adhere to the Covid-19 health guidelines.
We thought the government will declare another lockdown when we caught in the second wave of the deadly virus. But, President Lungu has managed to control the spread without lockdown.
We are glad President Lungu is our leader. He is a smart, intelligent, and hardworking man, just the country wanted!
President Lungu will win the August election! He just deserves it!!!
This is great news!!! Happy days are here again!!!!!
I think Zambia and its achievements will be a perfect example for the world. Our journey from developing country to developed country under the leadership of President Lungu.
Until further notice from the government official, Zambians must wear a mask, avoid social gatherings, and frequently was hands. Remember cases are decreasing and not completely vanished from Zambia.