MINISTRY of Health Permanent Secretary in charge of Technical Services Dr Kennedy Malama says so far 112,077 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

And Dr Malama says the country has recorded 27 COVID-19 cases and zero deaths in the last 24 hours.

In a statement, Sunday, Dr Malama said 4,287 persons were vaccinated yesterday.

“Zambia has made progress in the vaccination programme since Cabinet’s approval and subsequent launch of the campaign. Yesterday, we vaccinated 4,287 persons bringing the cumulative number of persons vaccinated to 112,077 (of which 106,550 are AstraZeneca and 5,522 are Sinopharm doses administered). Our Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) surveillance reports 55 events of mild side effects among persons vaccinated nationally. Government remains committed to ensuring that more vaccines are mobilised for its people using a multi-pronged approach as approved by Cabinet on 24th March, 2021,” read the statement.

Dr Malama said the cumulative number of confirmed cases recorded to date in Zambia was 92,436.

“Zambia remains alert to the threat of a ‘Third Wave’ and we continue heightening our Disease Surveillance and contact tracing. In the last 24 hours, 27 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of the 3,244 tests conducted with 0.8 percent positivity spread across all the provinces. This brings the cumulative number of confirmed cases recorded to date to 92,436. The breakdown of the new cases and positivity (given in brackets) by province is as follows: Copperbelt 7 (1.3 percent), Eastern 2 (0.8percent), Lusaka 8 (0.7percent), Northern 4 (1.7percent), North-western 2 (3.6percent), Southern 3 (0.5percent), and Western 1 (0.5percent). There were no new cases reported from Central, Luapula and Muchinga provinces. The 27 cases were reported among 10 Districts: Kitwe (seven); Lusaka (six); Chipata, Kafue, Livingstone, Mbala, Mporokoso, Mushindamo(two); Chikankata and Shang’ombo (one),” Dr Malama stated.

“There are currently 360 active cases, of whom 32 are admitted to our COVID-19 isolation facilities. Among those admitted, 24 (72.7 percent) are on Oxygen therapy and 8 (18.2 percent) are in critical condition. On a good note no COVID-19 death was recorded in the last 24 hours. The cumulative number of COVID-19 related deaths recorded to date stands at 1,260, classified as 707 COVID deaths and 553 COVID-19 associated deaths. A total 39 discharges were recorded from both the COVID-19 isolation facilities and home management, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 90,816 (98.2 percent recovered).”

Meanwhile, Dr Malama observed that other countries that held elections amidst the COVID-19 pandemic had increased number of cases.

“We appeal to all political parties to adhere to the health guidance provided and avoid facilitating the spread of COVID-19 in our country. Learning from other countries who have held elections amidst COVID-19 we have noted an increase in the number of cases and we need to avoid such a situation in Zambia,” stated Dr Malama.