NDC Concerned By Slow Covid-19 Testing, Advises President To 'Cage' Lusambo
The National Democratic Congress, NDC, has issued a press release stating that it is concerned by the rate of testing for Covid-19 in the country. The opposition party has described the handling of the matter by the Ministry of Health at a “snail’s pace”.
According to NDC President, Dr. Chishimba Kambwili, “It is now a month since the pandemic reached our country and the number of tests amounting to 3508 are not enough and are clinically insignificant to halt the spread of the virus. Though in the past two days we have moved to capacity of 600 screening and testing per day, it is still clinically low, very low and not enough to track and curb the disease spread.”
“It is worth noting that the current cumulative total of tests conducted by the Ministry of Health as at 21st April 2020 stands at 3,508 tests against the estimated population for Zambia which is a staggering 18.38 million. This essentially means that only 0.019% of Zambians have been tested. Lusaka province, the epicenter, has a Population of 3,300,000 people,” Kambwili is quoted as stating.
“The Minister of Health Dr Chitalu Chilufya must explain to the Zambian people why we have continued to move on this ineffective trajectory, which will inevitably plunge this country into a deeper health crisis than we are already experiencing,” he continued.
Noting the approval by Cabinet of a contingency fund for emergency preparedness, prevention and mitigation measures against the Coronavirus, the NDC President called on government to publicly disclose the items and quantity of donations and the sums of money from other well wishers.
In light of the slow pace of mobilization for mass testing in Lusaka the NDC leader recommended the government institute a lockdown in Lusaka province in order to facilitate a testing exercises, as well as the distribution of free marks and hand sanitizers, in addition to the disinfection of public place.
President Kambwili has also called on President Lungu 'to cage' Lusaka province minister honourable Bowman Lusambo for taking the law into his own hands and harrassing motorists and their passengers.
“There is no state of emergency in Zambia and President Lungu hasn't issued any presidential decree to warrant Lusambo to become a law enforcement agent. A report has also sufficed that he must have caused an accident. If true, Lusambo must be indicted for causing that accident,” he said.
The NDC President called upon President Lungu to fire Lusambo, failure to which he should be the one to resign on moral grounds for allowing such lawlessness.
