Health authorities in Zambia have closed 45 premises for flouting COVID-19 preventive guidelines, an official said on Friday.
Kennedy Malama, Permanent Secretary in charge of Technical Services in the Ministry of Health, said the premises were out of the 648 premises inspected throughout the country as part of enforcement of the preventive guidelines in the last 24 hours.
He said the inspected premises included nightclubs, casinos and bars.
“We reiterate that all those flouting the directives are putting people’s lives at risk and we will continue closing them followed by prosecution,” he said.
He said authorities had continued ramping up preventive interventions in the communities coupled with the vaccination programme.
According to him, the vaccination programme remains a critical tool in the response against the pandemic as it confers a level of protection against severe illness, hospitalisation and even death.
Zambia’s cumulative cases stands at 172,405 following 1,949 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours.
The cases were picked from 8,473 tests done while 2,673 patients were discharged in the past 24 hours bringing the total recoveries to 154,776.
The country recorded 64 new COVID-19 related deaths bringing the death toll to 2,736.
