* 11,756 cases have now recovered, 14,582 are active cases
* 227 new COVID-19 cases in past 24 hours
* Blantyre having highest at 88 followed by Lilongwe at 73
* There were 18 new related deaths — six from Blantyre, five from Lilongwe
By Duncan Mlanjira
The country has registered 155 new COVID-19 recoveries in the past 24 hours, bringing the cumulative number to 11,756 cases with 14,582 as active cases.
Of those recovered are 14, who have been discharged from treatment units while 227 were new cases registered as well as 18 new related deaths.
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Blantyre registered highest number the new cases at 88 followed by 73 from Lilongwe and from the 18 new related deaths, six are from Blantyre, five from Lilongwe, two from Mchinji and one each from Mzimba South, Thyolo, Neno, Ntcheu, and Mulanje districts.
Of the current active cases, 221 are hospitalised — 66 in Blantyre, 56 in Lilongwe, 20 in Mzimba North and 12 in Zomba.
Cumulatively, Malawi has recorded 27,422 cases including 874 deaths (case fatality rate at 3.2%) and of these cases, 1,985 are imported infections and 25,437 are locally transmitted.
The stats were discovered from 937 COVID-19 tests were conducted of which 323 were through SARS-COV-2 Antigen Rapid Diagnostic test while the rest were through RT-PCR.
In his national address on Sunday, President Lazarus Chakwera the positive cases out of the total translates to a positivity rate of 22.4%.
President Chakwera
He disclosed that over the course of this past week, the country registered 2,987 new infections out of the 13,448 tests that were done across the country.
“This represents a 22% positivity rate, and while it is lower than the 29% positivity rate from last week, it is still higher than the 0 to 5% rate we are aiming for.
“This is why we have decided to maintain the preventive measures that are in place to stop the spread of infections, including keeping
schools closed for another two weeks.
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“Admittedly, some of the preventive measures you are having to endure are difficult, because they are disruptive to your social life, your professional life, your academic life, and your economic life.
“But the continued drop in the rate of infection means that your compliance with the measures is making a difference, so let us keep running this race until we reach the finish line of zero infections.”
He reminded the public that the hardship of preventing new infections is better than the hardship of treating them and thus the need to continue the State of National Disaster.
Coronavirus alert: Respect to health workers
“After all, the burden our healthcare workers and health facilities are carrying is already enormous, so whenever you protect yourself and your family from getting infected, you lessen the pressure that our health system is under.
“I applaud our health workers for the gallant fight they are putting up, and I call on all citizens to treat every health care worker with respect and special appreciation.
“In fact, whenever you meet a health care worker, you should shower them with praise and thanks, not insults and ingratitude.
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“For my part, my Taskforce on Covid-19 will continue to give our health facilities as much support as we can to make the work of these heroes more meaningful.”
He went on to disclose that the government have increased the bed capacity in our treatment centers to 1,100, and has deployed 1,200 new healthcare workers to those centers.
“We have also dispatched additional protective gear for our frontline workers, including 270,000 face masks, 140,000 N95 masks, over 7,000 disposable gowns and 125,000 bottles of hand sanitizer.
“This is all on top of the work we are doing to strengthen the testing capacity of our testing sites, to which we have just distributed 20,000 antigen rapid tests and to aide in the diagnostics, the digital x-ray machines in Balaka and at Mzuzu Central Hospital are back in use after the repairs we effected.
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Co-chairperson of the presidential task force on COVID-19, Dr. John Phuka also reiterated the need for Malawians to do self-reflection as more people are getting infected daily.
“Our lives have been disrupted greatly due to this disease and the faster will deal with COVID-19 the better. This is the time for us to seriously consider to re-strategize our day to day lives and only make decisions that help to reduce the spread of the virus in our midst.
“We all need to treat everyone that you meet as a potential carrier of the virus and we need to strictly follow all the preventive measures wholesomely.
“The fight of COVID-19 requires that everyone must be involved. It is important to report for medical screening if you show any COVID-19 symptoms and the most common symptoms include fever, dry cough, tiredness.
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“In some patients will present with aches and pains, sore throat, diarrhea, conjunctivitis, headache, loss of taste or smell, a rash on skin, or discolouration of fingers or toes. When one experience these symptoms, there is need to have a COVID-19 test.
“If one experiences the following serious symptoms difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain or pressure, loss of speech or movement — these requires immediate medical attention.
“This will help us to identify the disease in early stages so that appropriate care can be given immediately. The public is also requested to report any deaths with unexplained cause to health authorities or report by calling toll free 929.”
Coronavirus alert
He encouraged people to religiously adhere to the preventive measures that are in force:
• Frequent handwashing with soap
• Proper wearing of masks
• Avoiding over crowded places
• Practicing cough and sneeze etiquette
• Staying away from others if one has flu like symptoms
• Decontaminate commonly touched surfaces
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