Over 500 travellers ‘detained’ over Covid
ABOUT 567 travellers have been placed under mandatory self-quarantine and will be monitored for the next 14 days following the enhanced point-of-entry surveillance, Health Minister Jonas Chanda has said.
Dr Chanda said with the imminent third wave threatening Zambia, all Zambians should continue to comply with the five golden rules which include masking up correctly and consistently maintaining physical distance and washing hands frequently with soap and water or use hand sanitisers among others.
He said all who were at risk of exposure to Covid-19 should religiously follow through with the quarantine guidelines.
Dr Chanda also said if not yet vaccinated, people should access the vaccine and get protected against severe Covid-19 disease and associated deaths.
“In the last 24 hours, we vaccinated 2, 572 persons with the AstraZeneca-vaccine bringing the total of all vaccinated against Covid-19 to 79, 920. Of the total vaccinated, a quarter (17, 857) represents healthcare workers,” he said.
He also said in countries with an upsurge of Covid-19 cases and deaths, factors worsening the situation were poor adherence to public health measures and low vaccine coverage.
Dr Chanda said Government’s continued commitment was to ensure adequate vaccines were acquired and deployed countrywide, leaving no one behind.
He said vaccines received from other countries through vaccine diplomacy channels would still have to meet the set criteria for safety and efficacy.
Dr Chanda also said all earlier vaccine recipients under the Government coordinated programme would be recalled to get the updated official vaccination card.
And Dr Chanda said 35 new confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded out of 3, 098 tests conducted in the last 24 hours representing 1.1 percent positivity.