Be wary of misleading Covid-19 theories, warns Malama

THE public should be wary of social media and the dangers of misinformation on Covid-19, Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Technical Services, Dr Kennedy Malama has said.

Dr Malama said when faced with a situation such as the current third wave, the number of unaccredited information sources swells and that this severely hampers response efforts.

“We urge the public to be wary of online media and the dangers of misinformation,” he said during the Covid-19 situation update yesterday.

Dr Malama said as the ministry tracks the third wave, it was keen to also maintain the genomic sequencing efforts so as to know the variants it was dealing with and prepare ahead of time.

He announced that the country in the last 24 hours recorded 47 deaths, the lowest number recorded in over a week.

Dr Malama said in the last 24 hours, the country recorded 2, 395 new Covid-19 cases out of 9, 952 tests conducted, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases recorded to date to 152, 056.

He said Government was also determined to vaccinate all Zambians, even as the country faced challenges to timely acquisitions.

He said in the last 24 hours, 1, 445 second dose AstraZeneca vaccinations were administered.

“Our cumulative vaccinations to date now stand at 135, 299 Dose 1 AstraZeneca and 4, 766 Dose 2 AstraZeneca (3.5 percent of those that received dose 1); and 6, 826 Dose 1 Sinopharm and 6, 215 Dose 2 Sinopharm (91 percent of those that received dose 1),” Dr Malama said.

He said as the country prepared to receive more vaccine doses, there was no need to panic and rush to obtain doses before the designated time as this actually reduces the vaccine’s efficacy.

Dr Malama said health care workers remain top priority for the target populations.

“We continue to stress the importance of seeking medical attention early; do not attempt to self-medicate as this masks the severity of the illness and leads to delays in seeking care,” he said.

Dr Malama said 1, 869 patients were discharged, 172 from isolation facilities and 1, 697 from home management.

He said the cumulative number of recoveries now stood at 128, 310.