* Total deaths now at 191 since April
* 101 new cases have been reported
* Total COVID-19 active cases now at 604
* Up from 38 as from December 1, 2020
By Duncan Mlanjira
The fears of a second wave of the COVID-19 are now real as on New Year’s Day two new related deaths have been recorded while 101 new cases have been registered in the past 24 hours of New Year’s Day.
January 1 situation report
A situation report from co-chairperson of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 says of the 101 cases, 32 are locally transmitted infections and 25 are currently admitted — 12 at Queen Elizabeth, 10 at Kamuzu Central, two at Mzuzu Central and one at Zomba Central hospitals.
From the 32 local infections, 15 are from Lilongwe, seven from Blantyre, three each from Balaka and Mzimba North, two from Nkhotakota and one each from Salima and Zomba.
From the new cases, 69 are imported with 66 identified at Mwanza border who came through buses from South Africa on December 26. Three of the imported were identified at Songwe border in Karonga.
December 31 situation report
The two deaths are from Lilongwe, bringing total number of deaths at 191 since April.
Going into December, new cases that were being registered were minimal and COVID-19 related deaths remained stagnant but on December 8, there was one new death, no new cases and the active cases were at 38.
Then the new cases started rising — 8 on December 12, 3 the next day, 4 on 14th, 10 on 15th, 11 on 16th, 47 on 17th, 10 on 18th, 5 on 19th, 8 on 20th, 41 on 21st and 46 on 22nd and 13 on 23rd.
On Christmas Eve, there were 16, on Christmas Day 62, and 4 on Boxing Day, 11 on Saturday the 27th, 23 on Sunday, 11 on Monday and 23 on Tuesday.
Coronavirus alert
The figures then soared to 83 on Wednesday to 112 on New Year’s Eve, bringing the total active cases to 505 going into 2021 and now at 604.
The testing sites conducted 1,427 COVID-19 tests in the past 24 hours, were conducted, four of which were confirmed by SARS-COV-2 Antigen Rapid Diagnostic test while the rest were through RT-PCR.
Coronavirus alert
Concerned Dr. Phuka says: “As we are planning to get back to our daily routine socioeconomic activities (businesses, work and school) after the holiday and the festive season, I would like request each one of us to take COVID-19 preventive measures in our institutions seriously.
“Many people might have been exposed to the virus during the holiday while attending to the festivities as such, the institutions might act as transmission amplifiers if preventive measures will not be adhered to,” he said.
Coronavirus alert
He reiterated the need to continue adhering to preventive measures that were imposed that include frequent handwashing with soap, proper wearing of face mask, avoiding overcrowded places, practicing cough and sneeze etiquette, staying home if one has flu-like symptoms and decontaminating the commonly touched surfaces.
