Malawi has registered 235 new COVID-19 cases, 15 new recoveries and two new deaths.
According to the Ministry of Health, 234 of the new cases are locally transmitted, including 90 from Lilongwe, 78 from Mzimba North, 34 from Blantyre, eight from Mzimba South and four each from Kasungu and Salima.
One of the new cases is imported and is from Lilongwe district. The new deaths are from Blantyre and Lilongwe districts, both were not vaccinated.
Cumulatively, Malawi has recorded 62,615 cases including 2,310 deaths (Case Fatality Rate is at 3.69%). Of these cases, 2,734 are imported infections and 59,881 are locally transmitted.
Cumulatively, 58,878 cases have now recovered (recovery rate of 94.03%) and 232 were lost to follow-up. This brings the total number of active cases to 1,195.
In the past 24 hours, there were seven new admissions and one new discharge in the treatment units. Currently, 12 active cases are currently hospitalised; five in Lilongwe, four in Blantyre and one each in Mzimba North, Phalombe and Zomba districts.
Two cases absconded from the hospital; one each in Blantyre and Mangochi districts. Five of the new admissions are not vaccinated while two are fully vaccinated.
On testing, in the past 24 hours, 1,163 COVID-19 tests were conducted. Of these, 457 tests were through RT-PCR while the rest were through SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Diagnostic test. The positive cases out of the total number tested (past 24 hours) translates to a positivity rate of 20.21% and the weekly positivity rate (seven days moving average) is at 9.4%. Malawi has so far conducted 453,249 tests.
On COVID-19 vaccination, a total of 1,575,674 vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far and 638,108 people are fully vaccinated.
Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda has said in a statement that Malawi is currently experiencing an increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
“We have also noted an increase in the number of active cases being admitted in our treatment units across the country. This is sad and more work needs to be done especially on encouraging people to follow the recommended COVID-19 management and prevention guidelines in order to reverse this worrisome trend,” she said.
She added that the Ministry of Health has enhanced surveillance and public health measures in order to avert another wave of COVID-19 which would overwhelm our health system.
