Malawi has registered 132 new COVID-19 cases, five new recoveries, and three new deaths.
The three new deaths include a 69-year-old male, an 81-year-old female, and a 27-year-old female, all are from Blantyre Health District.
Out of the new cases, 39 are locally transmitted infections: 27 are from Blantyre, nine from Lilongwe and one each from Nkhotakota, Thyolo, and Zomba Districts. The other 93 cases are imported infections identified at Mwanza border.
Cumulatively, Malawi has recorded 6,844 cases including 195 deaths. Of these cases, 1,554 are imported infections and 5,290 are locally transmitted. A total of 5,715 cases have now recovered, 108 were lost to follow-up, and 76 are still being investigated to ascertain their outcome. This brings the total number of active cases to 750.
Out of the active cases, 29 cases are currently admitted: 14 at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, ten at Kamuzu Central Hospital, two at Mzuzu Central Hospital, two at Balaka District Hospital and one at Zomba Central Hospital.
On testing, in the past 24 hours, 607 COVID-19 tests were conducted, five of the new cases were confirmed by SARS-COV-2 Antigen Rapid Diagnostic test while the rest were through RT-PCR. Cumulatively, 87,142 tests, have been conducted in the country so far.
Chairperson of the Presidential Taskforce John Phuka noted that the number of active cases in this new Coronavirus wave has today surpassed the 700 mark and the number of deaths has increased to 195.
He described this as a shocking way to begin the new year considering the difficulties people have experienced since COVID-19 was first detected in December 2019.
“As we begin the year, it is time to do self-reflection and take stock in our fight against COVID-19. As we are making the new year resolutions let us include on how best we can collaborate and reduce the spread of the disease in our country. It is not time to pull ourselves apart by contesting rather after careful prioritisation, we should give up some social activities and even some economic activities to ensure our safety as well as continued development of our children,” he said.
