{"id":16545,"date":"2022-02-20T17:27:15","date_gmt":"2022-02-20T17:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates"},"modified":"2022-02-20T18:04:03","modified_gmt":"2022-02-20T18:04:03","slug":"government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates","title":{"rendered":"Government worried about Eastern province continued high Covid-19 positivity rates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Government is worried that Eastern province has continued to record the highest Covid-19 positivity rates in the country during both the third and the current fourth waves of the pandemic. The positivity rate in the province has hit as high as 36 percent and consistently been above 10 percent.<\/p>\n

This came to light when stakeholders, who included the Presidential Covid-19 Advisor Professor Roma Chilengi and traditional leaders, met in Chipata to engage on ways of increasing the vaccine uptake as one of the interventions in the fight against the pandemic.<\/p>\n

In a speech delivered for him by Chipata District Commissioner Elidah Mwanza< Eastern Province Permanent Secretary Paul Thole said the province has struggled with the pandemic because interventions have been perceived as interfering with people\u2019s livelihoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cEastern province has been implementing numerous Covid-19 preventive and control measures. However, we have seen that these efforts have not been implemented fully in our communities, and adherence levels are close to none,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

And traditional leaders listed some of the challenges that could be contributing to the low update in f the vaccine. Chief Mnukwa said long distance to vaccination centres is one of the contributing factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of matters need to be addressed to change the status quo. For example, the distance to vaccination centres, and the need for increased sensitizations, among others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And responding to submissions by some headmen to make the vaccination exercise mandatory, Chief Mnukwa said the issue borders on human rights, making it impossible to force people even if the cause is good.<\/p>\n

Bearing a different view, Chief Madzimawe said the issue of Covid-19 borders on life and death, arguing that some harsh decisions need to be made. He argued that traditional leaders have in the past imposed decisions on their people for their own good, among them, the banning of the local brew commonly known as Kachasu.<\/p>\n

Chief Madzimawe added that there is need to take up leadership and make decisions for the betterment of the people. He announced that, with the N\u2019cwala traditional ceremony coming up, he will only allow those who are vaccinated to join the group of dancers, commonly known as Impis that are coming from his chiefdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo my Impis, those who are not willing to get vaccinated please stay away and enjoy your rights of choosing to die,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Professor Chilengi challenged the traditional rulers to show leadership given the risks and challenges that Covid-19 has continued to inflict on human existence.<\/p>\n

He said traditional leaders have the authority and need to come to the aid of government that has done almost everything in its power to conquer the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs government, we have put in measures, we have brought the vaccines, have health personnel in place, among others. This is why we are coming to you, because we have a problem that we need you to help us sort out,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

He added that the Covid-19 situation in the region has been worrying, with regards to the low vaccine uptake and the high positivity rate. \u201cIt is unacceptable that other regions have had as low as 6 percent positivity rate while here the rate has been consistently high, up to over 30,\u201d Professor Chilengi said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. Government is worried that Eastern province has continued to record the highest Covid-19 positivity rates in the country during both the third and the current fourth waves of the pandemic. The positivity rate in the province has hit as high as 36 percent and consistently been above 10 percent. This came to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12,16],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-16545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment worried about Eastern province continued high Covid-19 positivity rates - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Government is worried that Eastern province has continued to record the highest Covid-19 positivity rates in the country ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government worried about Eastern province continued high Covid-19 positivity rates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Government is worried that Eastern province has continued to record the highest Covid-19 positivity rates in the country ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-20T17:27:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-20T18:04:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621282413ed10.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Government worried about Eastern province continued high Covid-19 positivity rates\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-20T17:27:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-20T18:04:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates\"},\"wordCount\":562,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-621282413ed10.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/government-worried-about-eastern-province-continued-high-covid-19-positivity-rates\",\"name\":\"Government worried about Eastern province continued high Covid-19 positivity rates - 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