Health authorities in Zambia on Friday called for the need to ramp up the implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures as the pandemic has now reached all corners of the country during the third wave.
Kennedy Malama, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health in charge of Technical Services, has since urged multisectoral responses in all provinces to act with agility and ensure heightened enforcement, while expressing concern over the high positivity rate and deaths in the eastern part of the country and calling for an urgent need to review measures in the region.
“Meanwhile a team is being dispatched to go and provide technical support in case management. From what has evolved in Eastern Province which is predominantly rural, we reiterate that no province or district be it rural or remote is safe until all provinces and districts in our country are safe,” he said.
He, however, expressed happiness that Lusaka, the country’s capital, which has been an epicenter of the pandemic, has started seeing reduced admissions in isolation facilities as well as the increased rates of recovery from both hospitals and community care.
In the last 24 hours, a total of 3,400 patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total recoveries to 137,819. The country also recorded 2,781 new cases during the same period out of 12,335 tests done, bringing the cumulative cases to 160,613. Seventy people succumbed to the pandemic in the country, bringing the total deaths to 2,341. Enditem
