Malawi has today registered 314 new COVID-19 cases, 13 new recoveries and five new deaths.
Of the new cases, 308 of the new cases are locally transmitted infections. They include 121 from Blantyre, 62 from Zomba, 56 From Lilongwe, 25 from Mzimba North and six from Phalombe, five each from Machinga and Mulanje. There are also six new cases are imported infections.
Three of new deaths are from Blantyre (58-year-old male, 52-year-old male and 83-year-old female) while two are from Lilongwe (80-year-old female and 66-year-old male).
Chairperson of the Presidential Taskforce on Coronavirus John Phuka noted that the new cases have taken Malawi to nearly 8000 active cases that are predominated by local transmission (75%).
He also expressed worry that the number being observed may be an underestimate as others may be shunning testing to avoid the associated stigma that has been observed against those that have been diagnosed with COVID-19, their contacts, their families, those that have recovered from the disease and those that have lost their loved ones.
“This is worrisome as it may compromise the efforts to suppress the disease in our country as some people may not follow all preventive and containment measures: self-isolation and quarantine getting tested for COVID-19 as contacts and disclosing the cause of death of their loved ones.
“Let us fight stigma by supporting each other. Each one of us may need that support at some point as we are all at risk of being infected by COVID-19. It is possible to safely support families with COVID-19 patients as well as supporting those who have lost their loved ones due to COVID-19 while implementing the COVID-19 preventive measures,” said Phuka
Cumulatively, Malawi has recorded 7,925 cases including 208 deaths. Of these cases, 1,622 are imported infections and 6,303 are locally transmitted. Cumulatively, 5,802 cases have now recovered, 134 were lost to follow-up, and 76 are still being investigated to ascertain their outcome.
This brings the total number of active cases to 1,705. Of the active cases, 67 cases are currently admitted: 27 in Blantyre at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, 30 in Lilongwe at Kamuzu Central Hospital, Bwaila Hospital, Partners in Hope and Nkhoma Mission Hospital, three in Mzuzu at Mzuzu Central Hospital, five in Balaka at Balaka District Hospital, one in Zomba at Zomba Central Hospital and in Thyolo at Malamulo Adventist Hospital.
On testing, in the past 24 hours, 1,257 COVID-19 tests were conducted, 322 of the new tests were through SARS-COV-2 Antigen Rapid Diagnostic test while the rest were through RT-PCR and cumulatively, 92,335 tests, have been conducted in the country so far.
