MALAWI COVID-19 weekly epidemiological report Published on 6 July 2021 Epidemiological Week 26, 2021 (28 June to 4 July 2021) Cumulative data (2 April 2020 to 4 July 2021) Confirmed Contacts Tests Vaccines administered Recoveries Admissions Deaths cases traced conducted First dose Second dose 37,057 33,404 2,538 1,215 39,892 274,356 385,242 43,165 Epidemiological Week 26, 2021 (28 June to 4 July 2021) 1,348 329 129 28 1,085 8,664 0 0 Highlights • As of 4 July 2021, a total of 37,057 confirmed COVID-19 cases had been registered in Malawi. Of these cases, 1,348 were reported from 28 June to 4 July 2021 (Epi-week 26), representing a 69.6% increase in the number of new cases compared to Epi-week 25. • In the past week, all districts except Likoma and Nkhata Bay reported new cases with the majority of the new cases recorded in Blantyre (520), followed by Lilongwe (195), Ntchisi (98), and Kasungu (92). • A total of 8,664 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the past week (Epi-week 26). Cumulatively 274,356 tests have been conducted in the country. The positivity rate for the past week was 15.6%, an increase from 10.7% in the previous week. • In the past week, there were 129 newly hospitalised cases, representing a 98.5% increase compared to Epi-week 25. Cumulatively 2,538 cases have been admitted since the first cases were registered on 2 April 2020. • 28 new deaths were reported in the past week, a 75% increase compared to week 25. Cumulatively, 1,215 deaths have been reported, and the overall case-fatality ratio is 3.3% (1,215/37,057). • In the past week, 329 recoveries were registered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 33,460 representing a recovery rate of 90.1%. malawimoh @health_malawi covid19.health.gov.mw/ +265 990 800 000 Dial *929# or SMS “Corona” to 929 or call 929 1 of 9 Malawi COVID-19 epidemiological report, Epi Week 26 2021 Overview of COVID-19 cases in Malawi As of 4 July 2021, Malawi has registered a total of 37,057 confirmed COVID-19 cases (Figure 1) including 1,215 deaths. Of the cases, 1,348 cases were reported in the current reporting period (Epi week 26 of 2021) representing a 69.6% increase in the number of new cases compared to Epi-week 25. All districts except Likoma and Nkhata Bay registered new cases in the past week with the majority of the new cases recorded in Blantyre (520), followed by Lilongwe (195), Ntchisi (98), and Kasungu (92). (Table 1). The median age of all cases is 34 years with an interquartile range (IQR) of 24- 45 years and 60.2% are male. As shown in Figure 2, the highest proportion of all cases to date is in the 30-to-39-years (22.9%)) followed by 20-to-29-years (22.8%)) and 40-to-49-years (17.1%) age groups. Chitipa District has the highest recorded case fatality ratio (CFR) at 8.8% and Mangochi has the lowest at 1.5% (Figure 3), whilst the national CFR is at 3.3%. Nkhata Bay has recorded the highest recovery rate at 96.8% whilst Ntchisi has the lowest at 56.3% (Figure 4). 1400 1100 New cases 7-day moving average 1000 1200 900 1000 800 700 800 600 500 600 Number of cases Number 400 day moving average moving day - 7 400 300 200 200 100 0 0 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 Date case reported Figure 1: Number of COVID-19 cases and 7-day moving average by date of reporting in Malawi as of 4 July 2021 6000 Female Male Median age (IQR), years: 34 (24 to 45) 60.2% male 5000 4000 19 cases 19 - 3000 2000 Number of COVID Number 1000 0 0-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70+ Missing Age group (Years) malawimoh @health_malawi covid19.health.gov.mw/ +265 990 800 000 Dial *929# or SMS “Corona” to 929 or call 929 2 of 9 Malawi COVID-19 epidemiological report, Epi Week 26 2021 Figure 2: Age and sex distribution of COVID-19 cases in Malawi as of 4 July 2021 Table 1: Number of weekly and cumulative COVID-19 cases, deaths, and recoveries in Malawi as of 4 July 2021 Confirmed Cases Deaths Recoveries Transmission Classification* Reporting Health District New Total New Total New Total Imported Local Blantyre 520 11,942 12 416 220 10,850 379 11,563 Lilongwe 195 8,360 0 289 23 7,679 256 8,104 Mzimba North 10 2,278 0 53 0 2,168 32 2,246 Zomba 84 1,720 2 65 0 1,518 59 1,661 Mangochi 21 1,030 1 15 13 954 226 804 Kasungu 92 974 5 31 21 695 35 939 Salima 28 909 3 16 1 847 77 832 Dowa 11 755 0 19 1 675 205 550 Mchinji 64 696 0 23 3 559 23 673 Mulanje 23 680 0 29 2 589 47 633 Nkhata Bay 0 652 0 12 0 631 60 592 Neno 4 604 1 9 0 582 7 597 Mzimba South 23 569 0 27 1 477 105 464 Karonga 3 556 0 22 0 507 37 519 Thyolo 15 502 0 19 18 406 70 432 Balaka 22 496 1 15 0 452 61 435 Dedza 8 472 0 9 4 446 67 405 Nkhotakota 16 416 0 13 2 372 55 361 Ntcheu 14 413 1 23 12 366 49 364 Machinga 38 387 0 9 0 302 95 292 Chiradzulu 8 374 1 23 0 337 30 344 Rumphi 20 338 0 24 0 293 20 318 Phalombe 4 335 0 7 0 321 4 331 Chikwawa 15 264 0 9 3 209 36 228 Chitipa 1 250 0 22 0 226 6 244 Mwanza 10 249 0 6 5 228 18 231 Ntchisi 98 238 1 4 0 134 2 236 Nsanje 1 187 0 4 0 172 38 149 Likoma 0 50 0 2 0 48 0 50 Mwanza PoE 0 361 0 0 0 361 361 0 Total 1,348 37,057 28 1,215 329 33,404 2,460 34,597 *Imported means that infection has been acquired from outside the country; Local transmission means that the source of infection is within the country; PoE, Point of Entry; 10.0% 8.0% 6.0% 4.0% Case Fatality Ratio Fatality Case 2.0% 0.0% Health District Figure 3: Case Fatality Ratio by health district (02 April 2020 to 4 July 2021) malawimoh @health_malawi covid19.health.gov.mw/ +265 990 800 000 Dial *929# or SMS “Corona” to 929 or call 929 3 of 9 Malawi COVID-19 epidemiological report, Epi Week 26 2021 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% Recovery rate Recovery 20% 10% 0% Health District Figure 4: Recovery rate by Health District (2 April 2020 to 4 July 2021) Laboratory testing During epi-week 26, a total of 8,664 tests were performed with a positivity rate was 15.6%, an increase from 10.7% in Epi-week 25 (Table 2 and Figure 5). Compared to epi week 25, the number of tests conducted in this reporting period has increased by 16.2%. Of the tests conducted in the past week, 4,436 (51.2%) were done using antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests (Table 2) whilst the rest were molecular tests using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and GeneXpert. As of 4 July 2021, 274,356 SARS-CoV-2 tests were conducted across 16 testing sites using RT- PCR, 42 GeneXpert, and 211 antigen rapid diagnostic testing sites. 4000 40% 3500 35% Tested Positive 3000 Positivity rate (7-day moving average) 30% 2500 25% 2000 20% Daily tests Daily Positivity rate Positivity 1500 15% 1000 10% 500 5% 0 0% Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 malawimoh @health_malawi covid19.health.gov.mw/ +265 990 800 000 Dial *929# or SMS “Corona” to 929 or call 929 4 of 9 Malawi COVID-19 epidemiological report, Epi Week 26 2021 Figure 5: COVID-19 daily testing trend in Malawi (2 April 2020 to 4 July 2021) Table 2: Laboratory testing for COVID-19 in Malawi (April 2020 to 4 July 2021) Samples tested Positive Negative Name of the testing site Past week Past week Total Past week Total Total PCR AgRDT PCR AgRDT PCR AgRDT PCR AgRDT PCR AgRDT QECH 1,553 0 51,311 250 0 7,032 0 1,303 0 44,090 0 KCH 837 129 42,442 102 7 6,403 11 735 122 35,655 336 NHRL 468 0 28,926 8 0 1,301 0 460 0 27,625 0 Blantyre DREAM 343 0 25,967 28 0 2,913 11 315 0 22,998 43 Mzuzu 97 25 15,085 3 5 1,706 600 94 20 8,622 4,124 Zomba 203 453 10,849 17 63 1,157 616 186 390 4,168 4,908 Lilongwe District 99 256 7,369 24 32 169 400 75 224 1,097 5,703 KUHES 70 0 6,587 27 0 1,121 0 43 0 5,423 0 Mwanza 3 429 6,425 0 41 271 235 3 388 3,037 2,882 Blantyre District 0 347 6,287 0 75 0 743 0 272 0 5,544 PIH 2 67 4,698 0 21 479 313 2 46 2,615 1,286 Kasungu 0 242 3,827 0 90 36 888 0 152 165 2,738 Mchinji 54 180 3,719 5 57 70 603 49 123 429 2,617 Mangochi 36 67 3,707 6 10 34 693 30 57 355 2,625 Mzimba South 0 278 3,706 0 19 116 353 0 259 1,350 1,885 Balaka DREAM 3 0 3,445 1 0 413 0 2 0 3,026 0 Nkhotakota 0 131 3,445 0 15 19 296 0 116 156 2,974 MLW 184 0 3,129 49 0 458 0 135 0 2,667 3 Mwaiwathu Private Hosp 0 180 2,983 0 34 0 407 0 146 0 2,576 Karonga 0 42 2,887 0 3 175 368 0 39 746 1,596 Dowa 30 42 2,852 5 6 70 500 25 36 236 2,046 Balaka 0 58 2,816 0 20 19 249 0 38 144 2,401 Nkhata Bay 0 2 2,562 0 0 115 399 0 2 368 1,680 Salima 9 96 2,473 0 28 36 303 9 68 418 1,716 Mulanje 0 164 2,440 0 22 30 608 0 142 108 1,694 Dedza 0 38 2,404 0 8 18 519 0 30 118 1,749 Chiradzulu 0 63 2,248 0 18 21 413 0 45 78 1,736 Neno 0 16 2,215 0 4 35 527 0 12 143 1,510 Machinga 0 180 1,897 0 35 6 268 0 145 22 1,601 Ntcheu 0 52 1,687 0 10 13 271 0 42 167 1,236 Phalombe 0 36 1,659 0 4 9 327 0 32 110 1,213 Ntchisi 0 357 1,541 0 98 7 229 0 259 36 1,269 Rumphi 0 130 1,495 0 20 28 272 0 110 119 1,076 Nsanje 0 1 1,214 0 1 73 95 0 0 230 816 Thyolo 0 48 1,200 0 10 68 116 0 38 242 765 Chikwawa 0 211 1,063 0 15 9 166 0 196 78 810 Karonga MEIRU 0 0 971 0 0 27 0 0 0 937 0 Kamuzu Barracks 0 0 948 0 0 54 5 0 0 136 753 Chitipa 0 9 734 0 1 55 173 0 8 158 348 Nkhoma Mission 0 35 498 0 2 9 29 0 33 33 427 UNC Project Lilongwe 0 0 458 0 0 122 0 0 0 336 0 MUST 0 0 439 0 0 25 0 0 0 414 0 Ndirande Health Centre 232 0 392 25 0 42 0 207 0 350 0 Blantyre Adventist Hosp 0 46 355 0 12 0 60 0 34 0 295 Likoma 0 0 289 0 0 4 44 0 0 94 147 Malamulo Adventist 3 4 240 1 3 12 64 2 1 29 135 Chitawira Private 0 0 235 0 0 0 51 0 0 0 184 Lilongwe Lighthouse 0 20 161 0 5 10 18 0 15 58 75