CoVID-19 pandemic continues to spread despite reduction in number of cases

By Duncan Mlanjira

The presidential taskforce on CoVID-19 alerts the public that despite the reduction in the number of cases being registered, the pandemic continues to spread across the country.

In her Sunday situation resport, the taskforce’s co-chairperson, Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, said this is the case because the communities continue to register transmission of the disease as evidenced by the number of new confirmed cases that are mostly locally transmitted as well as admissions and related deaths.

Sunday’s situation report indicates that the country registered 187 new CoVID-19 cases, 182 new recoveries and 13 new deaths.

All cases are locally transmitted with Blantyre registering the highest at 50, Zomba at 40, Lilongwe at 34 and 21 from Mchinji.

Nine new cases were from Mangochi, eight from Chitipa, six from Rumphi, four from Neno, three each from Chikwawa and Thyolo, two each from Nkhata Bay and Nkhotakota, and one each from Balaka, Dedza, Likoma, Machinga and Mulanje.

Of the 13 new deaths registered, four were from Mchinji, two each from Blantyre and Kasungu, and one each from Lilongwe, Dowa, Thyolo, Rumphi, and Nsanje Districts.

Cumulatively, Malawi has recorded 58,083 cases including 1,968 deaths at case fatality rate of 3.39% while a total of 43,020 cases have now recovered — at recovery rate of 74.1%.

The total number of active cases is 12,863 and there were 33 new admissions in the treatment units while 44 cases were discharged — bringing a total of 274 active cases were hospitalised as of Sunday evening.

Of those hospitalised, Lilongwe and Blantyre had the highest at 64 and 63 respectively with 26 in Mzimba North, 17 in Zomba and 12 in Mchinji.

The positive cases out of the total number tested in past 24 hours of Sunday was at a positivity rate of 17.9% while a weekly positivity rate (seven days moving average) was at 17.9%.

On CoVID-19 vaccination, a total of 728,388 vaccine doses has been administered in the country so far with a total of 463,848 having had their first dose of AstraZeneca and 159,229 their second jab.

A total of 105,671 people have received Johnson & Johnson vaccine with 3,551 people had it as of Sunday — bringing a total of 264,900 people that are fully vaccinated.

The Health Minister says to others, the cumulative figures of Malawi reported and related deaths since April 2, 2020, are “just numbers but beyond statistics, these are real people” that are dying.

“We have lost our loved ones due to the pandemic, productive citizens to the nation and sadly some children are now orphans due to CoVID-19,” she said.

“In the course of the pandemic, what we have observed is that human behaviour is important in the control of the pandemic as it can help to stop or further the spread of the disease.

“At the start of the pandemic the only defence that we had was to change our behaviour — adopting wearing of masks, observing physical/social distance and stepping up our handwashing practices.

“In the course of the pandemic, the CoVID-19 vaccine was introduced as an added tool in the fight. On the CoVID-19 vaccine, let me remind the public that the vaccination exercise is still in progress and we have adequate vaccines in all vaccination sites.

“Our behaviours in the COVID-19 fight are key as we have observed that changes in people’s activities contribute to the rise of infections — such as travel, failure to mask and to adhere to physical distancing policies.

“And this is true for the past two waves of the pandemic in our country, we have observed that as more people relax in adhering to the preventive and containment measures, rapid is the spread of the disease and in those circumstances, we have an increased number of new cases, those admitted in treatment units and deaths.

“Now that we are battling the third wave, we all must act to stop the further spread of the disease amidst us. It is time to do a self-reflection and consider how best we can support each other to help reduce the further spread of CoVID-19 in our country.

“We really need to work with unity and if everyone plays a role by adhering to the preventive and containment measures, we can win the fight.”

Chiponda emphasised on the need for the public to adjust to their way of life, saying mass gatherings — such as weddings, markets, public transport, workplaces, bars, family gatherings, group sports, churches and funeral ceremonies — are acting as super spreaders of the disease.

“I should point it out that the more people interact, the closer in distance the interaction is, at less than one meter, and the longer the interaction lasts, the higher the risk of spreading CoVID-19.

“The higher the level of community transmission in an area, the higher the risk of spreading CoVID-19. As we have community transmission, the risk of CoVID-19 rapidly spreading is very high.

“Hence the need for every one of us to strictly adhere to the preventive measures — handwashing with soap/use of sanitizers, proper wearing of masks and observing physical/social distances.

“No one is safe until everyone else is safe — get vaccinated; wear face mask; protect yourself; protect your loved ones; protect everyone. Call toll free 929.”