LUSAKA, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's cumulative COVID-19 cases have surpassed 7,000 as 229 more cases were reported in the last 24 hours, its health ministry said on Wednesday.
The new cases were recorded out of 1,112 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health Spokesperson Able Kabalo.
He told a daily COVID-19 briefing that the cumulative cases have now risen to 7,022 while 558 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, bringing the total recoveries to 5,667.
The country also recorded three more deaths, bringing the total to 176.
He said the overall positivity rate of specimens received daily in COVID-19 testing laboratories has risen from 1.8 percent to over 25 percent in one month.
He said the ministry was scaling up testing as a sure way of early detection of cases in communities to avoid further spreading. Enditem
