In this photo taken on Dec 20, 2020 boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, US. (PHOTO / AFP)

LONDON / PARIS / LISBON / MONTREAL / DUBLIN / PRAGUE / STOCKHOLM / JOHANNESBURG / SOFIA / BUCHAREST / WASHINGTON / BERLIN / ADDIS ABABA / RABAT / RIO DE JANEIRO / SANTIAGO / LA PAZ / TIRANA / VILNIUS / LJUBLJANA / LIMA / MEXICO CITY / MOSCOW - Moderna’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is likely to offer protection of up to a couple of years, its chief executive said on Thursday, even though more data is still needed to make a definitive assessment.

Stephane Bancel also said his company was about to prove that its vaccine would also be effective against variants of the coronavirus seen in Britain and South Africa.

Scientists have said newly developed vaccines should be equally effective against both variants.

Bancel said Moderna was on track to deliver between 600 million and 1 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year.

He said Moderna had orders for 500 million doses of its vaccine and could comfortably make at least 600 million doses. He told a conference organized by Oddo BHF that the group was working to meet or even exceed a target for 1 billion doses, however.

South Africa

The new coronavirus strain identified in South Africa appears to be more transmissible than earlier variants and has accelerated the onset of a second wave of infections, according to a member of a panel of scientists advising the country’s health minister.

Yet there’s no evidence that it causes a more severe or different form of the disease, and hospitalization and mortality rates as a proportion of the number of infections are lower than during the first wave in July and August, said Ian Sanne, an infectious diseases doctor and head of Right to Care, a non-profit that provides treatment to people with HIV and associated diseases.

South Africa’s daily COVID-19 cases surpassed 20,000 for the first time as 21,832 new infections were reported Wednesday.

“Today, we have reached a grim milestone as we breach the 20,000 mark for new cases identified in 24 hours,” the health ministry said in a statement.

The latest tally pushed the country’s cumulative caseload to 1.15 million. 

South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said he expects to start obtaining vaccines next month and inoculate 67 percent of the population by the end of the year

The number of people who’ve died after being diagnosed with the disease rose by 844 to 31,368 deaths, the ministry said.

The country laid out a long-awaited plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, saying it will cost 20.6 billion rand (US$1.4 billion) to inoculate two thirds of the population and the state will be the sole purchaser.

ALSO READ: Africa's virus capital risks becoming vaccine laggard

The government will agree contracts with suppliers and allocate vaccines to regional authorities and the private sector, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a presentation to parliament on Thursday. The majority of the doses will come from AstraZeneca, which has set a price of 54 rand each compared with Moderna Inc’s 536 rand, he said.

Mkhize said he expects to start obtaining vaccines next month and inoculate 67 percent of the population by the end of the year.

The initial doses will be reserved for health workers, and negotiations are ongoing with other manufacturers about further supplies, he said.

South African medical insurers will pay for a COVID-19 vaccine for as many people who don’t have coverage as they have members and expect the program to cost as much as 7 billion rand (US$464 million).

Meanwhile, a research told Reuters that a variant of the coronavirus first detected in South Africa is unlikely to completely negate the immunizing effects of vaccines, a researcher studying it told Reuters.

Richard Lessells, an infectious disease expert at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, which played a central role in identifying the variant known as 501Y.V2, said his understanding was that the comments were not based on any new data but on shared information. Preliminary results from those studies may be ready by the end of this week, Lessells said.

Global tally

Coronavirus cases worldwide exceeded 87.2 million while the global death toll topped 1.88 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

An advert shows the word 'Hope' at an unusually quiet Piccadilly Circus, in the normally busy tourist and sightseeing area of London, Jan 6, 2021, amid a new national lockdown in England. (KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH / AP)

UK

Britain is making preparations in case London is overwhelmed by COVID infections, Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday, saying a so-called “Nightingale” field hospital will be ready to relieve pressure on the health service.

The United Kingdom has recorded more than 1,000 COVID-19 daily deaths for the first time since April as the government struggles to deal with a new, more infectious variant of the coronavirus.

The four nations of the UK recorded 1,041 deaths within 28 days of a positive test for the virus on Wednesday, lifting the toll to 77,346, according to official data.

Another 62,322 new cases were reported on the same day, the highest daily count, bringing the cumulative caseload to 2,836,801.

England and Wales recorded the most deaths in 2020 of any year in more than a century, with the COVID-19 pandemic leading to a rise in the number of excess deaths, a senior statistician said

England and Wales recorded the most deaths in 2020 of any year in more than a century, with the COVID-19 pandemic leading to a rise in the number of excess deaths, a senior statistician said.

About 604,000 deaths were registered in the two countries in the last 52 weeks, about 73,000 or 14 percent above the five-year average, Nick Stripe from Britain’s Office of National Statistics said on Twitter.

He said only one year since 1900 had seen annual deaths top 600,000, which was 1918, when the Spanish flu pandemic struck.

He said the figures indicated that the number of excess deaths, adjusted for population, would be at the highest level since 1940.

Also on Wednesday, British lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the government's decision to impose the new national lockdown in England by 524 votes to 16.

ALSO READ: England's lockdown could last into March, minister says

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the easing of England's new national lockdown would be a "gradual unwrapping" and not a "big bang". He told the House of Commons that the government would use "every available second" of the lockdown to place an "invisible shield" around elderly and vulnerable people through the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks.

The Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday that around 4,000 financial firms in Britain were at “heightened risk” of collapsing due to fallout from the first wave of the pandemic.

US

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday it is carefully monitoring allergic reactions to the coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc and urged individuals who had a serious reaction not to get the second dose.

In a conference call with reporters, the US public health agency said allergic reactions are occurring at a rate of 11.1 per 1 million vaccinations. That compared with flu vaccines, in which such reactions occur at a rate of 1.3 per 1 million shots.

The severe reactions are still “exceedingly rare,” they said, stressing the need for people to get vaccinated when the shots become available to them

CDC officials said 28 people who received the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech had severe allergic reactions. They also noted one case of anaphylaxis, which can cause throat swelling and breathing difficulty, after an individual received Moderna’s vaccine.

Also on Wednesday, the US COVID-19 death toll topped 360,000 while the infection tally surpassed 21.2 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Nearly 2.13 million children in the country have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest data of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.

EU

European countries should intensify their basic prevention measures, said Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s regional director. Europe is probably in the most acute phase of Covid-19 transmission right now, WHO experts said on Thursday.

“We are very much in the thick of it,” said Catherine Smallwood, a WHO senior health emergency officer, adding that current vaccination rates won’t stop the virus from spreading. “We still need to continue everything that we have been doing, at least for the next six months.”

France

France is unlikely to avoid the new and more contagious “UK variant” of the coronavirus, and may have to consider more restrictions on people’s movements next week, the government’s chief scientific advisor on the epidemic said on Wednesday.

Jean-François Delfraissy, who heads the scientific council that advises the government on the epidemic, said France already had about 22 confirmed cases of the UK variant.

The French government’s chief scientific advisor on the epidemic said that new infections were not having a major impact on the health system as the number of new hospitalizations is stagnating

Delfraissy also said that the COVID-19 situation in France was currently better than in Britain, Germany or Switzerland, and that new infections were not having a major impact on the health system as the number of new hospitalizations is stagnating.

France reported 25,379 new cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 2,705,618. The health ministry also reported 283 more deaths in hospitals, bringing the toll to 66,565. 

There were 24,741 people in hospital with COVID-19, of which 2,616 people were in intensive care.

A majority of French people intend to be vaccinated against COVID-19, crossing the 50 percent level for the first time, an Ifop-Fiducial poll showed.

According to the poll, 51 percent of respondents said they will get inoculated once the vaccine becomes available, up from 39 percent on Dec 2. Yet only 36 percent have confidence in the government’s ability to conduct a well-organized vaccination campaign.

Worried about wasting shots and public resistance in a country where scepticism of vaccines is common, France introduced a series of bureaucratic hurdles that must be cleared before rolling out inoculations in nursing homes.

The result, some health experts said, has been a vaccine deployment so tangled in red tape that it delivered just 7,000 shots by late Tuesday having started on Dec 27.

READ MORE: Moderna's vaccine wins backing of EU drugs regulator

A doctor, right, administers the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to a resident of the Bois Fleuris nursing home in Strasbourg, France, on Jan 6, 2021. (JEAN-FRANCOIS BADIAS / AP

Portugal

Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has tested negative for COVID-19 after being in contact with someone who is infected and will not stay in self-isolation as the exposure was considered low risk, his office said on Wednesday.

The 72-year-old is campaigning to win a second term as the country’s president in an election on Jan 24. He has several presidential debates scheduled before then, including one this evening which will go ahead as planned.

“Following the decision by the health authority, the president, who has already tested negative today, will resume his work schedule,” his office said in a statement shared on his official website.

Rebelo de Sousa’s office said the contact happened on Monday with a member of Casa Civil, a body of specialists who provide consultation services to the president.

Portugal on Wednesday reported 10,027 new cases, the highest daily count, bringing the national total to 446,606.

COVID-19-related deaths in the country rose by 91 to 7,377, according to the Directorate-General for Health (DGS). 

Canada

Canada’s Quebec province will impose a curfew starting on Saturday and extend an existing lockdown through Feb 8 to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as it works to speed up a vaccination campaign to counter soaring cases of COVID-19.

The new curfew will run from 8 pm to 5 am, even as non-essential businesses remain shut and home gatherings are prohibited as part of a “shock treatment” to save lives and the province’s health network, Premier François Legault said on Wednesday. Schools will remain open, he said.

The new restrictions come as Canada faces a widespread second wave of the virus and concerns over the pace of vaccination efforts to protect citizens from the illness and combat its spread. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday promised that Ottawa would help speed the pace of inoculations.

Quebec decided at the end of December to administer all doses of the Pfizer vaccine it had on hand instead of setting aside half of the supply for required second shots. That triggered pushback from some residents of a Montreal long-term care home who received some of the first COVID-19 shots administered in the country.

Residents of the Maimonides Geriatric Center have threatened to seek a court injunction if they do not get the second recommended shot in the coming days.

Like Quebec, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Wednesday the province was administering the vaccines as fast as it was getting them. The Western province of British Columbia has also said it would administer all doses available and delay the second shot. 

Meanwhile, Canada will not extend a ban on flights from Britain when it expires later on Wednesday because new measures to fight the coronavirus have made it unnecessary, Transport Minister Marc Garneau told reporters. Starting on Thursday, people who want to fly to Canada have to prove they have tested negative for COVID-19 in the previous 72 hours.

Ireland

Ireland announced its strictest lockdown measures since early last year on Wednesday as a “tsunami” of infections caused by a new COVID-19 variant pushed hospitalizations to a record high and sparked fears the healthcare system could be overwhelmed.

Ireland’s 14-day infection rate has quadrupled in the past 10 days to 819 cases per 100,000, fueled by a new more transmissible COVID-19 variant first identified in Britain and the relaxation of restrictions ahead of Christmas.

Officials reported a record high of 7,836 cases on Wednesday.

The government ordered the closure of most schools and construction sites for at least three weeks, tightening a lockdown that has already closed most hospitality and retail outlets and banned household visits.

Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said bars and restaurants in Ireland should be prepared for the fact that closure until the end of March was now likely as the country waits for the delivery of enough vaccine to control the virus.

Ireland has secured commitments for the delivery of 470,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines before the end of March and hopes to secure “significant quantities” of doses of vaccines not yet approved, the health minister said on Thursday.

The number of patients in Irish hospitals with COVID-19 hit an all-time high of 921 on Wednesday up from a mid-April peak of 881. COVID-19 hospital admissions are rising by around 10 percent a day, health officials said.

Meanwhile, Ireland is to drop a ban on travellers from Britain and South Africa from Saturday and will instead require them on arrival to provide a negative COVID-19 test from the previous 72 hours, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said.

Czech Republic

Some Czech crematoriums are near or at capacity due to a spike in coronavirus deaths, and they are looking for alternative cremation sites, Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said on Wednesday.

Hamacek said the situation was hardest in the eastern region of Moravia-Silesia, while in other regions facilities were almost operating at full capacity. The deceased would have to be moved between regions, he said.

In the past week, 127 people with COVID-19 died each day on average in the country of 10.7 million people, and those numbers are likely to be revised up.

The situation appeared uneven across the country, with the capital Prague’s funeral service telling Reuters it was operating as normal.

The crematorium in the eastern city of Ostrava as well as the hospital in the nearby city of Olomouc, however, have placed freezer trucks outside to store bodies.

New daily cases may peak at around 19,000 in the coming week, up from Tuesday’s record of 17,278, the country’s chief health statistician said on Wednesday.

Sweden

A top Swedish government official closely involved in the country’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic offered to resign on Wednesday, after a public outcry over his Christmas vacation on Spain’s Canary Islands.

Dan Eliasson, head of the Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), the body responsible for the management of emergencies and public safety, has asked the government to transfer him out of his job, the MSB said in a statement.

He is not the only government figure to fall foul of the country’s own guidance during the holiday period.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and Justice Minister Morgan Johansson were forced to apologise after both were spotted - and in Lofven’s case photographed - on trips to shopping malls over Christmas.

Bulgaria

Dozens of Bulgarian men danced and sang in the cold waters of the Tundzha river in the central Bulgarian town of Kalofer to mark the Christian holiday of Epiphany on Wednesday, ignoring curbs imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Despite calls from authorities to cancel the celebration, about 70 men from Kalofer took part in the ritual, while dozens gathered along the river banks to watch it.

Bulgaria, which ranks second in number of deaths per capita from COVID-19 in the European Union, managed to limit the surge in new infections after closing schools, restaurants and banning large public gatherings since late November.

On Wednesday, the Balkan country reported 1,310 new cases, bringing the total to 205,390, including 7,902 deaths.

Romania

In Romania, thousands of Orthodox Christians crowded into the harbour of the Black Sea port of Constanta, breaking social distancing rules to celebrate an Epiphany service.

Romanian authorities have banned public gatherings due to the coronavirus, but said they would allow up to 3,000 people with face masks to attend the open air service.

The European Union state, which has extended a state of alert until mid-January, has reported 654,007 coronavirus cases and 16,299 deaths.

A priest blesses people during Epiphany celebrations in a field outside the village of Facaeni, on the Danube river banks, southern Romania, Jan 6, 2021. (VADIM GHIRDA / AP)

Germany

Germany faces the risk of a much longer coronavirus lockdown if the federal states do not consistently implement tougher restrictions, especially in light of a highly contagious new variant, an aide to Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday.

“With every relaxation now, the likelihood of even longer necessary restrictions is greater and greater,” Helge Braun, head of Merkel’s office, told Reuters in an interview.

Like many other European countries, Germany is struggling to contain a second wave of the virus.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 26,391 to 1,835,038, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.

The reported death toll rose by 1,070 to 37,607, the tally showed. 

As of Wednesday, more than 367,000 people in Germany have received the first of two rounds of COVID-19 vaccinations, up 45,000 compared to the previous day, the RKI announced on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a ban on travel from the United Kingdom to Germany was extended until Jan 20 over concerns about the new UK variant, the German government said Wednesday.

Brazil

Brazil registered 1,242 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 198,974, the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.

The country confirmed 63,430 new cases, taking the nationwide count to 7,873,830, it added.

The state of Sao Paulo, the most populous in the country, is the most affected area with 1,501,085 cases and 47,511 deaths in total, followed by Rio de Janeiro with 448,089 cases and 26,068 deaths.

Morocco

Morocco announced on Wednesday 1,642 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally in the North African country to 447,081.

The number of recoveries increased to 418,744 after 2,036 new ones were added, while the death toll rose by 37 to 7,618, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

There were 1,121 patients in intensive care units, according to the statement.

Lithuania

Lithuania reported Wednesday 2,717 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 152,215.

To date, 2,036 people have died and 83,837 have recovered in the country, the Department of Statistics said.

Due to rising COVID-19 cases, the government has extended the restrictions on non-essential travel between municipalities to Jan 31. 

Africa tally

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded across the African continent reached 2,879,193 as of Wednesday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The death toll stood at 68,755, Africa CDC said.

Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Ministry of Health on Wednesday evening reported 545 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country’s tally to 126,786.

The death toll rose by two to 1,965, the ministry said, adding that some 112,974 patients had recovered so far.

It said that there were some 11,845 active cases, of which 230 were in severe condition.

Slovenia

Slovenia on Wednesday registered a record daily 3,354 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 131,787, according to the National Institute of Public Health.

Thirty-one newly reported deaths lifted the toll to 2,899.

Addressing a daily briefing, Nuska Caks Jager, deputy head of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), suggested the rise in infections in recent days was mainly due to private gatherings and family reunions held over the holidays.

The government's spokesman for the COVID-19 pandemic, Jelko Kacin, said that new measures or changes to the existing ones could be expected at the government session on Thursday.

Albania

Albania's COVID-19 restriction measures will remain in force so as to contain the spread of the virus, the Technical Committee of Experts on the coronavirus situation in Albania said Wednesday.

Deputy Minister of Health and Social Protection Mira Rakacolli and the head of the committee said that a 10pm-6am curfew will remain in force for now.

Universities across the country will continue to teach online and this measure will be reassessed in two weeks.

Meanwhile, flights to Britain will remain suspended until Jan 18 and all citizens entering the country from Britain must quarantine for 14 days.

"The situation in the past two weeks remains stable with a slight decrease in new infections, but we are in a situation with a high level of transmission," Director of Public Health Institute (PHI) Albana Fico said.

Health authorities reported Wednesday 725 new cases, taking the tally to 61,008, including 36,102 recoveries and 1,217 fatalities.

Chile

No region in Chile has seen a decline in new COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days, the Ministry of Health said Wednesday.

Minister of Health Enrique Paris told reporters that the northern regions of Antofagasta and Atacama, as well as Valparaiso and O'Higgins, in the central area of the country, reported the greatest increase in COVID-19 cases over the last seven days.

Chile registered  2,378 new COVID-19 infections and 28 deaths in the past 24 hours.

In total, the country has logged 625,483 confirmed cases and 16,816 deaths. A total of 591,081 patients have recovered while there were 17,239 active cases.

Peru

Peru extended a ban on flights to and from Europe for another 15 days on Wednesday to prevent the new virus variants from reaching the country.

Although Peru has seen a slight increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in several regions, including the capital Lima, authorities have ruled out a second wave.

As of Tuesday, Peru had recorded a total of 1,022,018 cases and 37,925 deaths.  

Bolivia

Bolivia will extend a ban on flights from Europe until mid-February as a preventive measure against the spread of the new UK variant, President Luis Arce announced on Wednesday.

The government, however, has authorized state-owned airline Boliviana de Aviacion to repatriate Bolivians stranded in Spain.

Bolivia has so far registered 165,268 cases and 9,241 deaths from the disease, according to the Ministry of Health.

Mexico

Mexico saw one of the biggest daily rises in coronavirus cases and COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, the health ministry said, as gatherings during the Christmas period likely fueled a surge in infections.

The ministry reported 13,345 newly confirmed cases and 1,165 deaths on Wednesday. That brought the country’s total number of infections to 1,479,835 and its overall death toll to 129,987.

It was the highest daily toll apart from Oct 5, when it adjusted its counting strategy. 

Ricardo Cortes, a health ministry official, said the fresh surge was likely linked to Mexicans attending Christmas celebrations, adding that the virus is more likely to spread when many people meet in closed spaces without ventilation.

The capital and metropolitan area, where more than 20 million people live, also saw a record number of virus hospitalizations. About 88 percent of Mexico City hospital beds for coronavirus patients are occupied.

Russia

Russia reported 23,541 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, which brought the total number of cases to 3,332,142.

The number of coronavirus deaths rose by 506 in the past 24 hours, taking the national death toll to 60,457, the coronavirus crisis center said.

CureVac 

German biotech firm CureVac has agreed an alliance with drugmaker Bayer to help it seek regulatory approval for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine and distribute doses, the two companies said on Thursday.

“Bayer will contribute its expertise and established infrastructure in areas such as clinical operations, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, medical information, supply chain performance as well as support in selected countries,” they said.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

CureVac, which had said it was looking for a larger partner, last month started a late-stage clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, banking on the same technology that has allowed rivals BioNTech and Moderna to lead the development race.

The collaboration echoes a similar deal by German peer BioNTech, also a research-focused biotech firm, which last year agreed to collaborate with global pharma giant Pfizer on its vaccine, which is now being rolled out globally.

Nasdaq-listed CureVac, which is backed by investors Dietmar Hopp, the Gates Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline and the German government, has said it aims to produce up to 300 million doses of the vaccine in 2021 and up to 600 million in 2022.

Malta

Teachers in Maltese state schools refused to turn up for work on Thursday after the government rejected their request to allow remote teaching and learning to counter COVID-19 fears.

The two-day strike, covering Thursday and Friday, was ordered by the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) following the collapse of Wednesday late-night talks with the government, which refused teachers' request to hold online lessons.

The request was made on the eve of children's return to school after the Christmas holidays and coincided with a record number of new cases, 224 cases recorded on Wednesday, the highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Estonia

The Estonian Health Board on Thursday reported 1,104 new coronavirus cases in a 24-hour span, a new record and the first time with more than 1,000 diagnosed cases in one day.

A total of 7,148 tests had been analyzed in the 24 hours in Estonia, of which the results of 1,104 -- or 15.4 percent -- of the initial tests were positive, while four new coronavirus deaths were registered, the Estonian Health Board said in a press release.

The number of infection cases for every 100,000 people in the last 14 days is 582.48, and 13.4 percent of all initial tests had been found to be positive, it noted.

As of Thursday morning, 394 COVID-19 patients are receiving treatment in hospital and 50 patients require intensive care, with 30 of them on a ventilator, it added.

Official data showed the disease has claimed the lives of 265 people in Estonia and 31,751 cases have been diagnosed in total. A total of 6,632 individuals in Estonia have been vaccinated against COVID-19, data showed.

Uganda

Uganda's ministry of health on Thursday said it is still waiting for the price of the COVID-19 vaccines as negotiations between the COVID-19 Global Vaccine Access Facility (COVAX facility) and the manufacturers continue.

The ministry in a statement issued here said the country, like other 90 low and medium income countries, will access the vaccines through the COVAX facility, which is negotiating on their behalf.

Zambia 

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Zambia reached 24,297 following 802 new cases reported on Thursday.

Figures released by the Ministry of Health said the new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours from 11,714 tests done.

Lusaka, the country's capital, continued to record the highest number of cases, accounting for 212 cases in the last 24 hours.

However, 308 patients were discharged, bringing the total recoveries to 19,980, while six people died, bringing the total deaths to 423.