By Scoop Reporter
FEAR and anxiety has gripped Members of Parliament (MPs) after the announcement was made this morning that 15 of them have tested positive to COVID-19 but are yet to be named.
Some of the MPs spoken to by The Scoop soon after the announcement expressed worry at the number of positive cases but what has dampened the moral at Parliament morale is that fact that they have not received their results to know who are positive.
“We are just waiting. We have not yet known our fate and this has has a telling effect on us because we don’t know who is positive and who is negative,” an MP who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya this morning announced that Zambia has recorded 154 new cases of COVID-19 detected out of 835 tests conducted in the last 24 hours with the cumulative total now standing at a staggering 3,856 cases.
Dr. Chilufya says From the new cases, 114 individuals were identified from routine community screening in Lusaka (70), Kabwe (29), Kitwe (12) and Ndola (3); and 27) people were identified through healthcare facility screening in Lusaka (16), Kitwe (9) and Chingola (2); 11 are contacts to known positive cases in Lusaka; 2 healthcare workers screened in Kitwe (1) and Ndola (1).
He says 15 MPs tested positive to COVID-19 but did not reveal the names of these MPs.
“We have lost one of our critical patients in Levy Mwanawasa COVID Isolation Center. He had co-morbidity with hypertension. We have also lost one who died in the community Lusaka. This brings our cumulative number of deaths to 136, of which 130 have so far been classified as 33 deaths due to COVID-19 and 97 COVID-19-associated deaths. May their Souls rest in eternal peace,” Dr. Chilufya said.
He said a total of 253 patients have been discharged among people being nursed at the health facilities and on home isolation.
This brings the total recovered to 1,941; 16 patients on oxygen support with two of them in very critical condition. The rest of the patients are in stable condition.
