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A cumulative 1,213,847 individuals have been vaccinated in Cholera hotspot areas since the commencement of the vaccination exercise, authorities say.
Minister of Health, Sylvia Masebo, said this vaccination coverage was currently standing at 69 percent of the targeted population.
Giving a daily Cholera update in Lusaka on Monday, Masebo stated that 46 percent of those vaccinated were males whereas 54 percent are females.
She said Zambia had received a complete consignment of 1.7 million doses for this single dose vaccine campaign from GAVI through the UN agencies.
“Works are already underway to procure additional vaccines from alternative sources with the focus still being on hot-spot areas such as Chibombo, Ndola and Chavuma now which have seen an increase in cases,” the Minister indicated.
Masebo expressed sadness that some sections of the community were refusing vaccines, saying this should not be the case.
The Minister also said the vaccination efforts were being hampered by heavy rains and flooding in some parts of the city.
“For those in Lusaka, not in the hotspot areas and not targeted for this campaign, we ask you to remain calm. We are prioritizing the hotspot areas at this time,” Masebo said.
Meanwhile, the Minister disclosed that the country lost 16 adults and 2 children brining the total number of deaths to 18 in the last 24 hours.
She said 449 new cases had been recorded in the past 24 hours countrywide whereas Sunday had 439 cases, and that for the past one week, the country had witnessed an average of 450 cases per day.
“Today, these new cases are from 6 provinces and distributed as follows: 389 in Lusaka Province, seven in Copperbelt Province, 28 in Central Province, 16 in Southern Province, three in Eastern Province and six in North-western Province,” Masebo stated.
She revealed that no Cholera case was recorded from Northern, Western and Muchinga Provinces and that health teams were currently assessing a suspected case from Chifunabali district, in Luapula Province.
The Minister said if this case turned out to be culture positive, it would be the first case to be reported from Luapula province since this outbreak began in October, 2023.
“In the last 24 hours, we have discharged 421 patients from the various treatment centres. This is lower than the 482 discharges made yesterday and the 434 discharges on Saturday,” Masebo disclosed.
She stated that the country now had in admission at the treatment facilities 893 patients as of Monday, 22, 2024 compared to Sunday, 21, 2024 when it had 847 in admission and 921 on Saturday, 20, 2024.
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