Co-chairperson of the Coronavirus Taskforce Dr. John Phuka has suggested that the drop in new Coronavirus cases could be due to a low level of testing and has warned Malawians not to be too excited.
On Tuesday, Malawi registered four new COVID-19 cases, seven new recoveries, and one new death. The new death is a 69-year-old man from Blantyre.
Phuka noted that the data continues to signal towards a possible successful fight against the COVID-19 in our country but he also urged caution.
“The number of four cases reported today follows that of five cases reported yesterday. It is however important to note that the tests today were only a third of tests done yesterday. In any case, today’s detection is the lowest number of cases since June.
“This is a signal in the right direction, but I continue to caution – let us not be too excited yet. As our testing is going down, we are reviewing the factors influencing our testing other that the testing protocol of only testing those with symptoms,” he said.
Malawi has recorded a total of 5,423 cases including 170 deaths. Of these cases, 1,094 are imported infections and 4,329 are locally transmitted.
Cumulatively, 3,066 cases have now recovered bringing the total number of active cases to 2,187.
The average age of the cases is 36.6 years, the youngest case being 1 month old, the oldest being 98 years and 68% are male.
The country has so far conducted 42,902 COVID-19 tests in 45 COVID-19 testing sites of which 81 tests have been done in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Phuka has urged people in the country to continue practicing prevention measures.
