Director of social and health services for the district, Dr. Gift Kawalazira, says they are only testing a few cases with serious conditions.

“Now we are only prioritizing people that are critically ill. We are using what we call gene expert machine that can also test for Corona virus. With that, we cannot test each and every suspect because the capacity has drastically been reduced,” he said.

Dr. Kawalazira says the situation has negative consequences to the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

“The major consequences are on the two groups of people that are 55 years and above and people that have underlying diseases such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure,” he said.

Dr. Kawalazira could, however, not be certain as to when will the resources be made available.

The country has recently witnessed a boom in the number of community transmission cases of COVID-19 that have surpassed the imported cases.

The increase forced President Lazarus Chakwera to cancel celebrations marking the country’s 56 years of independence on 6 July.

There are continued calls for people to follow recommended precautions such as regular hand washing with soap and observe social and physical distance to curb further spread of the deadly COVID-19.