‘We shall remain peaceful’

shall continue to listen to President Edgar Lungu’s instructions not to engage in political violence, but remain peaceful all he time, Patriotic Front (PF) vice chairperson for mobilisation Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba has said.

Mr Mwamba said the party believed in unity of purpose which would play a critical role in the welfare of the nation.

He said in an interview yesterday that the party membership would never embrace political violence which was against the tenants of democracy.

The former Defence Minister said President Lungu had categorically instructed PF leaders to ensure that all party members distanced themselves from violence and embrace peace which was cardinal to the welfare of the nation.

Mr Mwamba who is popularly known as GBM, said the party membership would ensure that they set a precedence to be the party that promotes unity in the country.

WESTERN Province has recorded its first nine Covid-19 cases which include a death, Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya has said.

And Dr Chilufya said President Edgar Lungu was expected to address the nation by the end of the week to provide guidance on the next step on the Covid-19 response.

He also said in the last seven days, the country recorded 182 new Covid-19 cases from the 9, 725 tests conducted.

Updating the nation on Covid-19 pandemic, the Minister said the one death recorded brings the cumulative number of deaths to 11 while the cumulative number of cases is now 1, 382 out of 45,248 tests conducted so far.

Dr Chilufya said the one death recorded was from Lewanika General Hospital in Mongu involving one of the first nine cases recorded and that the patient had an underlying medical condition.

He also said 154 patients had been discharged, bringing the number of total recoveries to 1, 142.

Dr Chilufya, who recently recovered from the pandemic said out of the 182 cases recorded, 26 were community members, 17 contacts to known cases, 36 from facility-based surveillance, 54 from mass screening and 44 from points of entry.