Zambia has in the past one week lost 421 lives to the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement issued to the press today, Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Technical Services Dr Kennedy Malama however said last two days have seen some reduction in daily admissions and deaths.
Dr Malama disclosed that government is committed to improving further on the fight against the pandemic.
“A comparative analysis of the last two weeks shows a reduction in the overall number of new cases recorded (15,714 this week compared to 19,535 the previous week),” he said.
“Similarly, our overall positivity for the week dropped slightly from 26% the previous week to 24%. It is, however, too early to tell as yet if the worst is behind us. Regarding the deaths, we lost 421 people in the last 1 week compared to 378 the previous week.
The last two days have seen some reduction in daily admissions and deaths and we are committed to improving further on this. In order to sustain this observed reduction, it is imperative that we address the root causes including rampant community transmission by taking the fight to the community with a unity of purpose and using a multisectoral approach anchored on the existing community structures.”
Meanwhile, Dr Malama note that there are nightclubs and bars which were found open in Lusaka and other parts of the country despite the directive to operate on a take away basis.
He said government will not spare those found flouting the directives which are in place.
“It is for this reason that we have taken the step to revoke the licenses of business premises found abrogating the provided guidelines under which to operate. We will not put the lives of the Members of the public at risk just because of a few selfish individuals who would rather put their businesses first before the safety of the public,” he said.
“We equally urge members of the public to introspect and avoid these Supra spreader activities.”
According to Zambia Report, the permanent Secretary also said that schools will remain closed due to the adverse effect of the pandemic.
Commenting on the issue of vaccination, Dr Malama said 1,987 second people received the dose AstraZeneca vaccinations in the last 24 hours
And Dr Malama said the country has recorded 1,795 new cases in the mentioned period of time out of 7,531 tests conducted.
He also disclosed that the pandemic claimed 46 lives in the same period adding that 2,248 patients have been discharged.
