Zambia Covid-19 Update

Minister of Health Silvia Masebo says Zambia has been reclassified as a COVID-19 low risk country under the United States CDC travel guidance. This follows the country’s continued low proportion of new cases and deaths being reported.

During the daily COVID-19 update, the minister states that studies are currently underway with Johns Hopkins University to model the fourth wave and understand the population at risk.

Ms. Masebo explained that the third wave rose very fast compared to the previous two waves and placed tremendous pressure on the health system, a situation the country must try to avoid.

“If the variants we will see in the fourth are those we have already been exposed to or are weaker than previous variants, this may result in a relatively lower fourth wave.

“Data from countries that have achieved high vaccination coverage has shown that although this does not avoid future waves altogether, it does greatly impact the severity of waves,” she said.

The Minister stressed the need for the health measures to remain in place and asked that the public comply with the rules and regulations as the country continues to plan for a potential fourth wave.

In the 24 hours the country has recorded 37 new COVID-19 cases out of the 5,875 tests conducted countrywide. There have been no new deaths recorded in the last 24hrs. COVID-19 related deaths recorded to date stands at 3,662.

Currently there are 182 active cases and with 16 being admitted to hospital. In the last 24 hours, 14 patients have been discharged, making the cumulative number of recoveries recorded to date 206,008.

The Minister further noted that the number of vaccinations that have been administered to date to is 941,396. These are broken down as follows: 377,914 people have received one shot of the vaccine and 563,482 people are fully vaccinated (of which 364,062 (65%) are the single-dose J&J vaccinations).

However, she stated that Zambia is still far from meeting its target of vaccinating at least 30% of the population by December 2021.

To address this issue, the Minister of health stated that the ministry will ensure availability of vaccines, provided more information on the vaccine to the target population, and increase the proximity of the service to all communities.