Coronavirus: Cabinet approves contingency fund

CABINET has approved the creation of a contingency fund for emergency preparedness, prevention and mitigation measures against the Coronavirus outbreak to protect the public from social, economic and cultural effects that the disease may cause.

Chief Government spokesperson, Dora Siliya said Cabinet was concerned about the safety of Zambians from the virus that had claimed many lives.

Ms Siliya said President Edgar Lungu called for an urgent Cabinet meeting on Monday at which the Coronavirus was seriously discussed.

She said the Ministry of Health through the Zambia National Public Health Institute had put in place mitigation measures against coronavirus.

Ms Siliya said the Ministry had trained multi- sectoral multidisciplinary teams as responders, training of health care workers in clinical case management, intensified disease surveillance at points of entry and developed and distributed guidelines for follow up of all travellers returning from high risk areas.

“In view of the extent of the problem, Cabinet approved the creation of a contingency fund for emergency preparedness, prevention and mitigation measures against the Coronavirus outbreak in order to timely protect the public from social, economic and cultural effects that the disease may cause,” she said. According to statistics at global level, there are 87, confirmed cases globally including 2, 977 deaths. 58 countries have been affected outside China including Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria in the African region.