COVID-19 Cases in Zambia Far Higher Than Initially Reported

From the 3rd January 2020 up until yesterday, the Zambian government have reported 82,897 confirmed cases of COVID-19. However, a study carried out by the Lancet Global Health journal shows that figures could be up to 92 times greater than those reported. 

The Lancet research team visited Zambia in July 2020 in which they tested for the COVID-19 infection in six district. Over a period of 23 days within July, they reported 454,708 within these populations. 

Compare these findings to the 4917 laboratory-confirmed cases reported by the Zambia National Public Health Institute during the same period. Concerns around low levels of testing within the country, combined with a number of asymptomatic cases, were suggested as the reason for these differences in figures. Individuals who did not feel particularly unwell would have no reason to get tested or visit hospital. 

However, a lack of mass testing has allowed the virus to run rampant around the country, all totally outside of the government radar. 

Greater testing earlier on would have enabled the government to understand the total impact the virus was having on their country, subsequently allowing them to make educated decisions on faster vaccination and healthcare provisions for their population.