COVID-19 Cases Reach 10 Month High

The Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced that Zambia has recorded 850 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours. This is the highest number since March 18th, 2020. 

10,461 tests were carried out, including 146 recoveries and five deaths. Of the 850 new cases, 130 have been admitted to hospital and 72 of these are on oxygen. 

To date Zambia has recorded 22,645 cases, with 19,526 recoveries and 412 deaths.  

The region is battling with a new variant of COVID-19, which appears to have resulted from a mutation of the virus in South Africa. The new variant is more transmissible and already accounts for around 90% of infections in South Africa, although it is not clear how many cases it is responsible for in Zambia.  

 The new variant also appears to affect a much wider group of people and there are concerns that it could impact the effectiveness of vaccines developed in response to the virus. However, this is only speculation at this stage. 

In response to fears that the health system could become overwhelmed Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya has announced that University Teaching Hospital (UTH) has increased the number of bed spaces for COVID patients from 40 to 120, in an attempt to relieve pressure on Levy Mwanawasa Hospital.