HEALTH Minister Sylvia Masebo has revealed that 10 out of the 1,206 delegates who have so far been screened for COVID-19 have tested positive.

In a statement, Friday, Masebo said the screening of the delegation had continued at Kenneth Kaunda International Conference Centre and Airport as well as Hotels.

“Allow me to update you over the ongoing African Union Summit health screening. The Screening of the delegation has continued at Kenneth Kaunda International Conference Center (KKICC), Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (KKIA) and Hotels. Yesterday on 14th July 2022, the health team screened and tested 890 delegates for COVID-19, and out of these, 8 delegates tested positive for COVID-19. The total number of delegates cumulatively so far screened and tested for COVID-19 now stands at 1,206. Out of this, 1,196 have tested negative and 10 tested positive for COVID-19,” she said.

“We have continued implementing the following interventions: Counselling the delegates that test positive for COVID-19 onsite and further isolation, Contact tracing of all COVID-19 positive Contacts, Screening and checking on the COVID-19 results and ensure that only delegates with negative COVID-19 results enter the conference facility and PCR testing for some delegates.”

And Masebo said the country had continued to record hospitalisation due to severe COVID-19 disease as well as deaths among persons with underlying conditions.

“COVID-19 is still in transmission globally but we remain hopeful of a resolved public health event. This can be achieved if we continue to adhere to the prescribed interventions we refer to as the five golden rules in addition to vaccination. We continue to record hospitalisation due to severe COVID-19 disease as well as deaths among persons with underlying conditions. It remains important to get to the nearest healthcare facility whenever unwell for timely diagnosis and treatment. Allow me to put on record that the outcome among those with chronic illnesses but vaccinated against COVID-19 is always better. The majority (over 90%) of the people hospitalised due to COVID-19 that are vaccinated have a good outcome,” she said.

“In the last 24 hours, we recorded 182 new cases out of 3,171 tests performed, representing a 6% positivity rate. We continue to observe positivity above the set threshold for controlled community transmission in some provinces. Notably today, Central, Copperbelt, Eastern, Muchinga, North-western and Western provinces had positivity above 5%. Of the new cases, only two required admission. No new COVID-related deaths were reported. We discharged 71 patients from both home-based case and facility management, leaving us with 1,566 active cases countrywide. Of the active cases, 1,535 (98%) are being managed within the community while 31 (2%) currently require admission with 19 (61%) on oxygen. Four of the patients are classified as critical.”

Masebo said the national vaccination coverage for fully vaccinated persons now stands at 43.7 percent.

“We continue to operate vaccination centres across the country to ensure that the vaccines are easily accessible to all. In the last 24 hours, we administered 8,515 dose 1, 17,652 dose 2 and 2,903 booster vaccinations. Our national vaccination coverage for fully vaccinated persons now stands at 43.7%,” said Masebo.

“We are still controlling the measles outbreak in the North-Western Province affecting Mushindano, Solwezi and Kalumbila. The incidence has reduced with some days having no record of a case. Measles is a vaccine preventable disease. I do hope you all took advantage of the child health week to get your children vaccinated against the various vaccine-preventable diseases. I do know that my teams on the ground also facilitated other services such as weighing and reviewing general child health status.”