Zambia's COVID-19 cases near 10,000 mark

2020-08-19 03:05:16 GMT2020-08-19 11:05:16(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
A man wearing a face mask selects clothes at a market in Lusaka, capital of Zambia, on Aug. 18, 2020. Zambia's confirmed COVID-19 cases have continued rising, with the total number close to the 10,000 mark. According to the latest figures released by the health ministry on Tuesday, the country has reported 9,981 confirmed cases following 142 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours out of 794 tests conducted. (Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua)  A man wearing a face mask selects clothes at a market in Lusaka, capital of Zambia, on Aug. 18, 2020. Zambia's confirmed COVID-19 cases have continued rising, with the total number close to the 10,000 mark. According to the latest figures released by the health ministry on Tuesday, the country has reported 9,981 confirmed cases following 142 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours out of 794 tests conducted. (Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua)

LUSAKA, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's confirmed COVID-19 cases have continued rising, with the total number close to the 10,000 mark.

According to the latest figures released by the health ministry on Tuesday, the country has reported 9,981 confirmed cases following 142 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours out of 794 tests conducted.

The current death toll still stands at 264 as the country has not recorded any deaths in the last two days.

The number of recovery cases stands at 8,776 after 201 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours while 102,178 tests have been conducted since the outbreak of the pandemic in March this year.

While the country's first cases were imported, the scenario has since changed, with the pandemic being widespread in the communities and with most of the cases being domestic transmission.

Some provinces such as the southern part of the country which did not have any cases have now started reporting increased numbers while Lusaka, the country's capital and the Copperbelt Province are now the hotspots.

Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya said the pandemic's geographical spread has now increased, covering almost the whole country, signifying the increased number of cases.

Despite the measures put in place in an effort to curb the spread, the country has continued to see a surge in new cases.

When the pandemic broke out in March, the authorities imposed preventive measures such as closing down schools and other places of huge gatherings such as churches and sports activities. The authorities also shut three of the country's four international airports.

Despite all these measures, the pandemic has continued unabated and the main drivers have been identified as social gatherings.

While the country imposed some lockdown measures, flea markets where huge numbers of people gather were left to continue while public buses continued to carry passengers in their overcrowded buses.

The health minister said recently that social gatherings have been identified as the major agents of the spread of the pandemic.

On the other hand, people have relaxed in observing health preventive guidelines.

According to the health minister, adherence to the preventive measures was cardinal to halt the spread of the pandemic, adding that it was unfortunate that people have dropped their guard.

Another issue that has been driving the spread of the pandemic in Zambia is related to myths surrounding the pandemic, with some section of the population believing that the disease was not real but a hoax.

Random surveys conducted showed that people were reluctant to observe the preventive guidelines such as social distancing and wearing face masks because they feel the disease was just a mere hoax.

Others feel that that the disease is only for people in affluent areas.

To counter this, the Ministry of Health has started inviting COVID-19 survivors during its daily press briefings.

The survivors shared their experience with the pandemic and tried to dispel myths surrounding the pandemic.

All the survivors said the pandemic is real which needs to be taken seriously. Enditem

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