* We must continue complying with the preventive measures—Chakwera
* Currently positivity rate of 16.9%
* Frontline healthcare workers applauded for registering 2,202 recoveries in the past week alone
* Healthcare workers to be considered first for COVID-19 vaccine because they are the last line of defense
By Duncan Mlanjira
In his weekly address on COVID-19 updates on Sunday, President Lazarus Chakwera urged Malawians to continue complying with the preventive measures so that the positivity rate continues to drop until it is below 5% — which is when he can safely open up the economy again.
He reported that of the 11,899 people tested this past week, 2,011 were COVID-19 positive, which is a positivity rate of 16.9% and was 6% lower than it was the week before — and over half of what it was at the start of the year.
Coronavirus alert: Respect to health workers
He applauded the frontline healthcare workers for registering 2,202 recoveries in the past week alone and taking cognizance the critical role they are playing in saving lives, the 100,000 additional AstraZeneca vaccines secured through the African Union to arrive within a week will be for the healthcare workers.
“This consignment for healthcare workers is different from the one arriving at the end of the month for the general population.
“In providing vaccine protection from COVID-19, healthcare workers must be first in line because they are our last line of defense. They put their lives at risk to save lives every day and they share in the devastation we feel from losing loved ones to this virus — including the 100 people who have died of COVID-19 this past week.
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“Every COVID-19 death is tragic and to be mourned, and although it is God who ultimately has power over life and death, the deaths that are preventable are even more heartbreaking.
“We, therefore, have a moral and civic duty to do everything we can to ensure that no penny meant for saving lives is stolen, or abused, or wasted by anybody.
Coronavirus alert