HEALTH minister Dr Chitalu Chilufya says Zambia has recorded three new cases of Coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours revealing that two of the patients were in hiding before being found.
Dr Chilufya revealed this during the daily COVID-19
Update in Lusaka this morning.
The minister said a 58-year-old man who came in contact with a person who had been in a high-risk country along with his 13-year-old daughter tested positive after eluding health officials.
He said the third case was of a 41-year-old, who was a primary contact to the late Zanaco employee of Kafue who died at the University Teaching Hospital last Thursday.
“The first case involves a 58 year old man of Makeni who is a contact to a confirmed case that travelled from Pakistan in March 2020. The second case is his 13 year old daughter. The third case involves a 41 year old female who is a primary contact to the deceased patient of 8th April 2020,” Dr Chilufya said.
“They ignored calls from the contact tracers and kept themselves locked up in their home while pretending to be out of town,” he said.
He said through forceful measures, and in line with the Public Health Act CAP. 295, the vigilant rapid response team managed to get access to them for screening and testing.
“They have since been admitted to the isolation center and all their contacts are being traced,” said Dr Chilufya.
The duo are residents of Makeni in Lusaka and are said to have come in contact with a person who traveled to Pakistan last month.
Zambia now has 43 COVID-19 cases, two deaths and 30 recoveries and 11 active cases.
Dr Chilufya further declared Kafue as a new “Coronavirus hotspot”.
He also advised against hospital because hospitals “can be highly infectious!”
“Let us work together to disrupt human to human infections. Avoid weddings, funerals and other public gatherings,” said Dr Chilufya.
