Zambia COVID-19 cases surpass 7,000, says Health Ministry

The Health Ministry of Zambia has said that Zambia has surpassed 7,000 COVID-19 cases after 229 more cases were reported in the last 24 hours, according to a news report by News Ghana.

According to the Ministry of Health Spokesperson, Able Kabalohe, the new cases were recorded out of 1,112 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.

He told a daily COVID-19 briefing that the cumulative cases have now risen to 7,022 while 558 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, bringing the total recoveries to 5,667.

The country also recorded three more deaths, bringing the total to 176.

He said the overall positivity rate of specimens received daily in COVID-19 testing laboratories has risen from 1.8 percent to over 25 percent in one month.

He said the ministry was scaling up testing as a sure way of early detection of cases in communities to avoid further spreading.

Earlier, in the previous month, Zambia asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for some debt relief and cancellation in a telephone conversation between the two leaders.

"President Edgar Lungu called for debt relief and cancellation in light of reduced revenue due to the negative impact of the pandemic, as well as competing needs for the country, to secure adequate resources to fight the pandemic and to stimulate the economy," said a statement issued by Spokesman Isaac Chipampe.