Health experts dispatched to Nakonde

GOVERNMENT has sent a team of experts led by Zambia National Public Health Institute officials to offer technical support and strengthen incident management systems on Covid-19 in Nakonde, Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya has said.

Dr Chilufya said the district was a hotspot and called for massive screening and testing to be conducted.

He said Government was also engaging the Tanzanian government to strengthen cross border cooperation on the Covid-19 response.

Dr Chilufya said Government had commissioned research that would provide scientific evidence to guide the covid19 response and strategic policy direction going forward.

He said the research would focus on understanding the prevalence of Covid-19 and severity of the disease.

The minister said health personnel would continue targeted community screening and testing in Lusaka.

And Dr Chilufya said in the last 24 hours two new Covid-19 cases had been recorded in the country.

Dr Chilufya said two cases tested positive from the 184 tests that were conducted at the University Teaching Hospital.

He said at the media briefing in Lusaka yesterday that the two cases were from Kafue district, Covid-19 hot spot.

Dr Chilufya said those affected included a 13-year-old child and a 34-year-old man who were contacts of other positive cases.

The two individuals had been moved to the quarantine facilities to undergo treatment, Dr Chilufya said.

He said and the new generation of contacts of the new cases was being tracked so they could be tested for Covid-19.