Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Health Minister Sylvia Masebo has ruled out a lockdown following the emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in the country.
Speaking during the COVID-19 update today, Ms Masebo says President HAKAINDE Hichilema has directed that there should be no lockdown as doing so would have a worse and negative effect on the economy as compared to leaving the borders open.
She has however, discouraged citizens from unnecessary international travels.
The Health Minister says most of the Omicron cases recorded in the country are from people with a history of international travels.
And Ms Masebo says government is reviewing the measures that were earlier announced and that the nation will be informed on the new changes and the way forward.
She has encouraged citizens to get vaccinated so as to reduce on chances of getting infected and more so severely.
Meanwhile the minister has announced that the country has recorded 157 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours out of 2,715 tests conducted, giving a 6% overall national positivity.
The new cases were reported from 26 districts with the top six being Lusaka,Kitwe,Kabwe,Chirundu,Livingstone and Kazungula.
Ms Masebo says the country currently has 785 active Covid-19 cases showing an upward increase of close to 400 percent compared to the figures recorded last Monday.