Minister of Health has disclosed that Zambia has not recorded any new case of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.
Giving the 15th COVID-19 update, Dr Chitalu Chilufya said the total number of cases remains 39 which include one death.
Dr Chilufya further disclosed that the first two positive reported cases have been discharged from the isolation facility after testing negative and have been classified as recovered.
“In the 24 hours, Zambia has not recorded a single case of COVID-19, the total number of cases, therefore, remains at 39 and that includes one death. All patients that are under isolation remain stable and the two cases that posted their first negative test yesterday, posted another negative test today and have been discharged,” Dr Chilufya said.
He said the isolation centres now have 36 people in admission, two on the Copperbelt and 34 in Lusaka adding that out of the 5, 622 cases classified as high risk due to travel, 1, 526 people have successfully completed the 14 day mandatory quarantine period.
“Further the number of alerts that had been notified and cleared as none cases has risen to 258 and we urge the public to continue being alert and reporting any suspects to our rapid response team for action,” he stated.
And Dr Chilufya directed people receiving various donations to start distributing them to the communities so that ordinary members of the public can benefit.
“Those of you who are receiving materials, those materials must get to the community. If you are a district health management team, if you are a district administration, if you are a provincial administration and you get these sanitizers and these face masks in numbers distribute them to the communities and the let communities benefit, they are meant for use at the frontline and for the common person out there,” Dr Chilufya said.
He also said it was gratifying to note the Church has used technology to continue ministering to the people and urged them to continue leading people in seeking the face of God amid the virus and ensuring that there are no mass gatherings taking place.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister disclosed that the recruitment of 400 Doctors and 3, 000 Paramedics as directed by President Edgar Lungu will commence in the coming week and that the exercise will be efficient.
“We will work with all stakeholders to ensure that this recruitment takes place immediately. We will recruit the health workers as was directed and we will recruit the health workers on a full-time basis so that they can continue to support routine services,” he stated.
Globally, the number of confirmed cases stands at 1, 015, 877 with 53, 218 deaths have been recorded by today 07:00 hours today, while Africa has recorded 7,448 cases with 301 deaths and 212, 993 people have recovered from the disease.