A statement issued by the Isles Minister for Health, Hamad Rashid Muhammed said this takes the number of Covid-19 sufferers to 139, from 105 patients reported by April 26. He said all the new cases are of local people, 16 being Unguja residents and 13 residing in Pemba.
He similarly noted that 11 patients had recovered, making the number of Isles patients who have recovered reach 16, while the statement regretted to confirm that five sufferers had lost their lives.
The number of hospitalized sufferers was now 41 and their conditions are stable, the statement indicated.
It also made note of procedures being intimated to treat sufferers with mild symptoms at home where they don’t have other health complications, with 72 such patients having received medical care from their residential places.
The minister reiterated in the strongest terms the need for people to follow precautions against Covid-19 infections, and constantly use face masks when visiting public service spots like shops, using commuter buses, health centres and wherever else that have significant gatherings of people.
Insisting that any person with symptoms like acute fever, coughing and sneezing ought to report to a health centre or use a toll free number 190, he urged the media to report only what has been confirmed by the ministry, and people continue to conduct prayers as to obtain divine protection against the pandemic.
In a report issued on Wednesday, the Isles ministry also confirmed one Covid-19 death, raising the number of fatalities to four.
The number of alerts from the community had decreased dramatically for four consecutive days, with screening of Covid-19 suspects and collecting samples being conducted at the district level.
“The Zanzibar epicurve for confirmed cases shows a downward trend in Covid-19 cases from the low number of samples tested compared to previous days, which was due to unavailability of virus transport media,” the report noted.
“However, the data show that new infections increase more rapidly over time and the positivity rate is high and almost remains the same. This means that if our Rapid Response Team (RRT) were able to collect 100 samples per day from 17th April to date, Zanzibar would have more than 1800 Covid-19 confirmed cases,” the report had ominously intoned.