• Enhanced enforcement activities are ongoing in all the provinces.
• In the last 24hours, 648 premises were inspected countrywide.
• 509 were compliant whereas 45 were closed, and 139 served with notices.
Ministry of Health says 45 bars, night clubs and casinos have been closed while 139 premises have been served with notices for abrogating directives.
In a statement, Permanent Secretary Technical Services Dr. Kennedy Malama said the entities that have been shut down are out of the 648 premises inspected countrywide, in the last 24 hours in which 509 were compliant.
Dr. Malama reiterated that government will continue closing all those flouting directives followed by prosecution.
“Our enhanced enforcement activities are ongoing in all the provinces. In the last 24hours we saw 648 premises inspected countrywide, and of these 509 (79%) were compliant whereas 45 (7%) were closed, and 139 were served with notices. These included bars, night clubs and casinos.”
“The premises closed were in the following Provinces: Copperbelt 24 out of 192; Muchinga 20 out of 122; Eastern 10 out of 217; Central 5 out of 22; Luapula 3 out of 54; and Lusaka 3 out 45; Northern province issued 2 warnings. We reiterate that all those flouting the directives are putting people’s lives at risk and we will continue closing them followed by prosecution,” Dr. Malama said.
He further said government will continue expanding intensive care space with 15 beds earmarked for addition at the Lusaka Specialist Hospital in the coming week in view of the increase in the number of critically ill patients, which is affecting patient outcomes.
And Dr. Malama disclosed that the Covid-19 vaccination sites will operate from Monday to Saturday, with teams working half days on Saturday, whereas Sundays will be reserved for data reconciliation and some rest for health staff.
He said the cumulative vaccinations now stand at 142,198 following the administration of 4,006 Dose 2 AstraZeneca vaccinations in the last 24 hours.
“Our vaccination pillar remains a critical tool in our response to confer a level of protection on our people against severe illness, hospitalization and even death. Today, we begin administration of Dose 1 vaccinations. We are aware that the public has been anxious to receive these vaccines and have taken this into consideration as we roll out the vaccines.”
“In the last 24 hours, we administered 4,006 Dose 2 AstraZeneca vaccinations. Our cumulative vaccinations to date now stand at 142,198 Dose 1 vaccinations, 135,299 AstraZeneca and 6,899 Sinopharm and of these, 33,046 have gone on to receive Dose 2 vaccinations [i.e. 26,710 Dose 2 AstraZeneca (20% of those that received dose 1) and 6,336 Dose 2 Sinopharm (92% of those that received dose 1).”
Zambia has in the last 24 hours recorded 1,949 cases out of 8,473 tests conducted, with 64 new COVID-19 related deaths, and 2,673 recoveries.