Malawi has registered 515 new COVID-19 cases, 587 new recoveries and 38 new deaths.
All new cases are locally transmitted including 190 from Zomba, 102 from Lilongwe, 91 from Blantyre, 22 from Balaka, 21 from Mzimba North, nine from Mangochi, eight each from Chiradzulu and Kasungu, and seven each from Dedza, Dowa, Karonga, and Nkhotakota.
The 38 new COVID-19 deaths registered include 28 from Blantyre, two each from Lilongwe, Karonga, and Nkhotakota, and one each from Thyolo, Chitipa, Dedza, and Ntcheu.
Cumulatively, Malawi has 26,875 cases including 837 deaths (Case Fatality Rate is at 3.1%). Of these cases, 1,981 are imported infections and 24,894 are locally transmitted.
A total of 11,348 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 14,480.
Currently, a total of 248 active cases are hospitalized inlcuding 69 in Lilongwe, 66 in Blantyre, 20 in Mzimba North, 16 in Zomba, nine in Chiradzulu and eight each in Karonga and Kasungu.
On testing, in the past 24 hours, 1,949 COVID-19 tests were conducted. Of these, 610 tests were through SARS-COV-2 Antigen Rapid Diagnostic test while the rest were through RT-PCR. The positive cases out of the total translates to a positivity rate of 26.4%. Cumulatively, 158,327 tests have been conducted in the country so far.
Chairperson of the Presidential Taskforce on Coronavirus has since advised people to seek medical care as early as possible, saying some patients go to treatment units whilst in critical stages.
“Therefore we need to help patients to come to the hospital in good time so that care starts early enough to save lives,” said Phuka.
