OVER 1000 COVID-19 CASES RECORDED

By NATION REPORTER Over 1000 cases of covid 19 have been recorded in the last 24 hours, the ministry of Health has said, describing the figure as worrisome. Dr. Kennedy Malama, Permanent Secretary – Technical Services said yesterday  1164 cases were confirmed out of 10,678 tests conducted  representing  11 percent  positivity, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases recorded to date to 99,540. The breakdown of the new cases (and positivity) by province are as follows: Central 99 (14%), Copperbelt 113 (9%), Eastern 114 (8%), Luapula 17 (4%), Lusaka 488 (15%), Muchinga 7 (1%), Northern 12 (2%), North-western 18 (5%), Southern 96 (10%) and Western 200 (20%).  Dr Malama observed that the nation had sadly continued to record an increased number of daily deaths, with six new deaths in the last 24 hours. The deaths were reported from Lusaka (3), Central (1) and Northern (1) and Western (1) provinces.  Three of the deaths have been classified as COVID-19 deaths, while the other three were classified as COVID-19 associated deaths. The cumulative number of COVID-19 related deaths recorded to date now stands at 1,303 (classified as 737 COVID deaths and 566 COVID-19 associated deaths. A total of 522 discharges were made from both the COVID-19 isolation facilities and home management around the country, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 93,036 (93% recovered). There are currently 5,201 active cases, of whom 4,986 (96%) are under community management and 215 (4%) are admitted to our COVID-19 isolation facilities. “ In the last 24 hours, we saw 50 new admissions. Among those currently under admission, 159 (74%) are on Oxygen therapy and 19 (9%) are in critical condition,” Dr Malama said. He said  the number of cases that  have been  recorded this week alone are indeed worrisome.