Ngumuya, a former parliamentarian, becomes the latest public figure in Malawi to go public about his Covid-19 status after Nkhata Bay North West MP Julius Mwase earlier this week. Both were active on the just ended fresh presidential election campaign which draw unprecedented crowds.
“Allan Ngumuya called and told me he has tested Covid-19 positive. He asked me to warn everybody about the reality of Covid-19,” said Gospel Kazako of Zodiak Media.
This is coming at a time the Blantyre District Health Office has shut down COVID-19 testing laboratories on account of run out of test kits.
Director of social and health services for Blantyre district, Dr. Gift Kawalazira, the district is now only testing suspected cases that have serious symptoms.
He attributes the development to increasing cases of local transmissions of the virus.
Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, Malawi has registered 59 new cases of Covid-19, bringing to 1877 confirmed cases since April 2, this year.
There have also been five new deaths bringing the total of deaths since April to 24.
“Of the new cases, 56 are contacts of confirmed cases and three are imported infections...The average age of those infected is 34 years, the youngest case is aged one month, the oldest is 78 years and 67 per cent of the cases are male,” says co-chairperson of the Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19 Dr. John Phuka insisting on application of set preventive measures to minimize spread.
Of the locally transmitted infections, four are health workers, (two each from Mzimba South and Mzuzu), 17 from Lilongwe, 12 from Mzuzu, 10 from Nkhata Bay, three from Mzimba South, three from Thyolo, two from Dowa, and one each from Chitipa, Karonga, Mwanza, Mangochi and Rumphi.
The imported cases were identified at Mwanza border and are from Blantyre, Nkhata Bay and Zomba.
The island district of Likoma remains the sole district in Malawi where no Covid-19 case has been reported, three months after the first case was identified in Malawi.
Over 290 people have entered Malawi through official ports of entry as of close of business July 7, 2020.
