Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
About 4,000 people die from tuberculosis (TB) in Zambia every year, the ministry of health has revealed.
Health minister Sylvia Masebo discloses that the burden of tb in Zambia remains high with an estimated incidence of 60,000 new infections every year.
Speaking during the covid-19 situation update today, Ms Masebo bemoaned that TB continues to be a public health threat in Zambia with at least 30 percent of the estimated new cases not detected and therefore not linked to care.
Meanwhile Ms Masebo has encouraged all covid-19 patients to get screened for TB and vice-versa, stating that patients with TB and covid-19 have a higher chance of having severe disease and death.
The minister is concerned over the continued late presentation of TB patients to health facilities; a situation she says has contributed to most deaths.
Meanwhile, Zambia has in the last 24 hours recorded 256 new covid-19 cases out of 3,381 tests conducted giving a positivity rate of 8 percent, while no new death has been recorded.
The country currently has 2,180 active cases of which 31 are admitted to isolation facilities with 10 on oxygen and 3 in critical condition.
And ministry of health director infectious diseases professor Lloyd Mulenga disclosed that the number of covid-19 cases being admitted on a daily basis is still higher than the number of patents being discharged daily.