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Health Minister, Syvia Masebo, has revealed that some male folk are refusing to get vaccinated against cholera, despite the disease claiming hundreds of lives.
Masebo told the media during a briefing at Heroes Stadium in Lusaka that a cumulative number of 748,102 individuals in five hotspot areas have been vaccinated.
“About 47 percent of those vaccinated are males whereas 53 percent are females,” she said.
According to Masebo, the total number of individuals vaccinated in each of the targeted areas was 165,783 from Chawama, 195,415 from Chipata, 207,266 from Kanyama, 167,276 from Matero and 12,362 from Rufunsa.
She, however, said that while the Ministry continued to receive more vaccines, some members of the community were refusing these vaccines especially the male gender.
On the cholera update, Masebo stated that about 16 deaths were recorded from 494 cholera cases in 24 hours across the country with Lusaka remaining on top of the graph.
A total of 434 were discharged leaving 925 on admission showing significant fluctuations when compared to the previous statistics.
“We have recorded a total of 16 deaths in the last 24 hours, slightly higher than the 14 reported yesterday but lower than the 20 reported on Thursday,” she said.
Masebo continued to indicate and raise concerns over community death recorded as Brought In Dead (BID).
She explained that 12 of these deaths happened in Lusaka, two in Central and another two in Copperbelt Provinces.
She added 12 of these 16 deaths happened in the community as people who were brought in dead, whereas four died in our cholera treatment facilities.
On the COVID-19 situation, Masebo noted the rise in the number of cases, saying admissions were recorded in Lusaka and the Copperbelt.
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“The positivity rate for those being tested has increased to above six percent. Currently we have seven patients with COVID in admission facilities,” she said.
The Minister told the media that the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) had four patients with two of them on oxygen, while Levy Mwanawasa Hospital had three with two on oxygen.
“Sadly, we lost one male patient aged 32 years who had severe Covid Pneumonia. We have had a total of two COVID-19 related deaths and two COVID-19 deaths in the past one week,” she stated.
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