Zambia’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) bedding occupancy on Tuesday reached 100 per cent with health authorities indicating that the situation was not sustainable.
“Experience from across the globe has shown that once COVID-19 hospitalisations reach 40 per cent bed capacity, the health care workers and other systems become overwhelmed due to the unique demands COVID-19 patients demand,“ Kennedy Malama, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health in charge of Technical Services said.
He said having 726 in-patients due to COVID-19 with 195 admissions in the last 24 hours was alarming for a small population and called for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to contain the situation.
He said isolation facilities had only started admitting people in critical condition.
He further expressed concern that the country was now recording high deaths due to the pandemic with 28 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total deaths to 1,444.
The country’s cumulative cases now stand at 115,824 following 2,690 new cases in the last 24 hours while 901 patients were discharged bringing the total recoveries to 99,895.
He reiterated the need for strict adherence to preventive guidelines, adding that 80 per cent of the infections could be curtailed by adherence to such guidelines. (Xinhua/NAN)
