‘’We have, among these 32 patients, a three-month-old baby who was admitted through UTH for pneumonia and was swabbed as per protocol. He is the one who is admitted to Levy Mwanawasa Hospital, and is the one who is unstable; and is surviving on oxygen,’’ he said yesterday.

A THREE-month-old baby that tested positive to COVID-19 is in a critical condition, health minister Chitalu Chilufya has revealed.

And Dr Chilufya said government has started mandatory quarantine at the Nakonde border in Northern Province, as COVID-19 cases hit 109.

Giving his daily update on the pandemic, Dr Chilufya said the baby had pneumonia and was later found with the coronavirus after a test.

And Dr Chilufya said government had reinforced health security checks at Nakonde border.

“Nakonde operation is being enhanced. We have heightened port health services in Nakonde. We’ve reinforced the team in Nakonde with the technical team from the Zambia National Public Health Institute. And a number of port health staff have been deployed to reinforce surveillance,” said Dr Chilufya.

“Furthermore, mass screening and testing has commenced in Nakonde, and will be heightened within the next few days. Another key thing that has happened in Nakonde is that we have now identified a bigger place for quarantine. This means that for those of you who will be coming back from Tanzania through Nakonde border you will be mandatory quarantined in Nakonde for 14 days before you are admitted into Lusaka, or the Copperbelt or indeed any other destination that you are headed to. That 14 days mandatory quarantine period will involve monitoring you for symptoms and signs, it will also involve testing you.”