Covid-19: DRC reports 14 deaths in a day

Kinshasa

Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded 14 new Covid-19 deaths, the Ministry of Health has announced. This is the highest number of deaths from the virus recorded in a day since the disease was officially declared in the country on March 10, 2020.

Currently, the country’s death toll stands at 912. It is feared that DRC will soon surpass the 1,000 mark, according to the country’s Minister of Health Jean-Jacques Mbungani. President Félix Tshisekedi has said that hospitals are currently overwhelmed with cases of the Delta Covid-19 variant.

After the failure of vaccination with AstraZeneca, the Minister of Health announced the imminent arrival of other doses of vaccines.

Dr Mbungani said that only 44,840 people have been vaccinated against the virus against a population of more than 80 million people.

 He said that vaccination is a major component in the fight against Covid-19.

The minister announced that 5.9 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines including Pfizer, Sinovac and Johnson & Johnson's are expected to arrive in the country in a few days.

Dr Mbungani expressed the government’s commitment to step up Covid-19 containment measures and vaccines uptake.

He said that all top government officials will be vaccinated in early July.

The Health minister indicated that the Hospital Du Cinquantenaire, one of the main Covid-19 treatment centres in Kinshasa with a capacity of 250 beds, had been asked to receive more Covid-19 patients.

Government Spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said that the country was testing between 500 and 2,000 samples per day.

During a meeting of the Council of Ministers, the Health ministry requested the government to increase the supply of oxygen in all hospitals.