Silvia Lutucuta began the daily presentation of the epidemiological situation of the country with an appeal to the population not to lower their guard at this time of atypical festive season, which will mark the lives of all forever due to covid-19.
The minister stated that the covid-19 pandemic "has challenged the whole world from a social, economic point of view", recalling that it is "in the midst of battle against an invisible enemy".
"And we can't in any way lose the conquests already achieved, so once again we say that we must not lower our guard to protect the most precious good that is human life," she said.
The ruler appealed to all those who are arriving in Angola to comply with the home quarantine and test them, in order to protect their families and everyone around them.
The holder of the Health portfolio said that the country's authorities look with concern at the emergence of a second "challenging" wave of covid-19, with the emergence of a new mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is much more contagious and affects, in some latitudes, very young people.
"We are concerned about the possibility of having a second wave," he said.
About the data from the last 24 hours, Sílvia Lutucuta said that of the total number of cases, 43 were registered in Luanda, 23 in Zaire, 17 in Huambo, 14 in Cabinda, 12 in Lunda Norte, four in Bié, three in Benguela, three in Malanje, two in Uíge, two in Moxico, one in Lunda Sul and the same number in Huíla, being 74 men and 75 women, with ages ranging from 3 months to 78 years.
The case that resulted in death in the period in reference is that of a 15 year old adolescent, Angolan, in the province of Huila, having, on the other hand, recovered from the disease 78 people, aged between 4 and 64 years, divided by the provinces of Luanda (59), Benguela (17) and Huambo (2).
From a laboratory surveillance point of view, a total of 3466 samples were processed in the last 24 hours, with a positivity rate of 3.7 percent, while to date a cumulative total of 297,799 samples have been processed, with 16,931 positive and 280,868 negative results.
With regard to the results of the tests at the entry and exit points of the Luanda sanitary fence, namely in the areas of Cabo Ledo, Maria Teresa, Rio Longa and Panguila.
In these points, besides the health technicians, there are security agents, support staff from the provincial governments of Luanda, Kwanza Sul, Kwanza Norte and Bengo, with the objective of testing the truck drivers, free of charge, essential goods within the festive season.
"We started compiling the data on the 13th of this month and until yesterday [Tuesday] we tested 10,428 users, with five cases and all of them found in the epidemiological corridor Luanda/Benguela, that is, we found one case in Cabo Ledo, plus four cases in Rio Longa," informed the Secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda.
Franco Mufinda pointed out that expectations had been dashed that the situation was "in a process of decline," with an increase in cases in the last two days.
"Yesterday [Tuesday] we moved to three digits, today idem. That's why we must increasingly tighten the siege when it comes to control on those four points," he said.
The covid-19 pandemic has caused at least 1,718,209 deaths resulting from more than 77.9 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a balance sheet made by the French agency AFP.
