President Chakwera leading by example by getting vaccinated
* President Chakwera pledged to ease CoVID-19 partial lockdown if the positivity declines to less that 5%
* 31,774 cases have now recovered at recovery rate of 93.6%
* 134 were lost to follow-up bringing the total number of active cases to 912
* A total of 15 active cases are hospitalised — eight in Lilongwe, five in Blantyre and one each in Mzimba North and Kasungu
* Cumulatively 258,107 vaccine doses have been administered with 353 done in the past 24 hours
By Duncan Mlanjira
From the 470 CoVID-19 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours of Monday, the country recorded a positivity rate of 3.8% while the positivity rate in the past seven days is at 3.4%.
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The country has registered 18 new CoVID-19 cases, 10 new recoveries and one new death from Blantyre. All new cases are locally transmitted — eight from Mzimba North, six from Blantyre and four from Lilongwe Districts.
President Lazarus Chakwera promised that the country’s CoVID-19 partial lockdown could be lifted if the positivity declines to less that 5% and as the data is showing the low positivity, the presidential taskforce on the fight against the pandemic still implores on the public not to relax on the preventive measures that are still in force.
Cumulatively, 31,774 cases have now recovered at a recovery rate of 93.6% while 134 were lost to follow-up — bringing the total number of active cases to 912.
Sunday report
And in total 33,959 cases have been registered since April last year in which the related deaths are at 1,139 deaths — at case fatality rate of 3.35%.
Currently, a total of 15 active cases are hospitalised — eight in Lilongwe, five in Blantyre, and one each in Mzimba North and Kasungu Districts.
Since President Chakwera launched the CoVID-19 Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccination program on 11th March, cumulatively 258,107 doses have been administered with 353 being administered in the past 24 hours.
In her Monday situation report, co-chairperson of the CoVID-19 presidential taskforce, Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda applauds all those that have “made a good and wise choice to get vaccinated so that they are protected from the severe form of the disease and reduce the chance of hospitalization”.
“It is my appeal to all those that are aged 18 years and above to visit our vaccination sites near you and get vaccinated. The vaccination exercise continues in all Government and CHAM facilities in the country and currently there are enough stocks of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“It is important to note that apart from the vaccinations, there is need for each one of us (regardless of being vaccinated or not) to strictly adhere to the COVID-19 preventive and containment measures.”
She thus reminded the public to further suppress the infections by avoiding the important three Cs settings:
* Crowded places with many people nearby;
* Close-contact settings, especially where people have close-range conversations; and
* Confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation.
“It is important to increase access to outdoor air through natural ventilation,” Chiponda said. “The preventive measures should be our daily routine — frequent handwashing with soap, proper wearing of mask, practicing cough and sneeze etiquette, staying home if you have flu like symptoms and decontaminating commonly touched surfaces.
“No one is safe until everyone else is safe. Get vaccinated; protect yourself; your loved ones and everyone.”
