•       European Union (EU) has pledged a further Fifty-Eight Million Euros.

•       Zambian government is grateful to the EU and to all cooperating partners.

•       Dr Chanda has since assured transparency and accountability in the use of the resources provided

Health Minister says the European Union (EU) has pledged a further Fifty-Eight Million Euros (€58 million) in various commitments towards the health sector in general, as well as the COVID-19 response.

Speaking when he updated the nation on the current COVID-19 situation Dr Jonas Chanda said the Zambian government is grateful to the EU and to all cooperating partners for their unwavering support.

Dr Chanda has since pledged transparency and accountability in the use of the resources provided the cooperating partners and stakeholders in order to benefit the Zambian c citizenry.

He said as the  government is working  to increase its  knowledge around the novel SARS-Cov-2 virus, the causative agent of COVID-19, the Ministry of Health continues to  build its evidence base   as   informed   by   genomic   sequencing. 

“As we work to increase our knowledge around the novel SARS-C o v-2 virus, the causative agent of COVID-19, the Ministry of Health continues to build its evidence base   as   informed   by   genomic   sequencing,” he said.

And the Minister of Health has disclosed that the country has    recorded 790 new cases with eight deaths out of 5,517 tests conducted in the last 24 hours indicating 14 percent positivity.

He said 328 cases were recorded in Lusaka Province, 101 in Eastern Province, 97 in Northern Province, 79 in Southern Province, 57 in Copperbelt Province, 41 in Muchinga Province, 32 in Central Province, 31 in North-western Province, 21 in Luapula Province and 3 in Western Province.

“We currently have 6,425 active cases, of these, 321 (5%) are admitted to our COVID-19 isolation facilities, with 223 (70%) on Oxygen therapy and  42 (1 3%) in critical condition,” the minister said.

“The remaining 6,104 (95%) cases are under community management.”

Dr Chanda adds that of the 8 deaths recorded 5 are from the Copperbelt, 2 are from North Western Province and 1 is from Lusaka.

He notes that this brings the cumulative number of Covid-19 deaths to 991 of which 552 have been classified as Covid-19 deaths while 466 have been classified as Covid-19related deaths.