15 Zambian MPs, 11 parliamentary staff contract COVID-19

FIFTEEN members of the Zambian parliament and 11 members of staff have tested positive for COVID-19, the health minister has announced.

The infection of the MPs and staff comes days after the assembly suspended sittings because a lawmaker had died of the respiratory disease.

Zambia’s coronavirus cases have surged to 3,856 from 1,632 at the beginning of July, with deaths rising to 136 from 30 over the same period, minister Chitalu Chilufya told reporters.

The heavily indebted southern African country, the No. 2 copper producer on the continent, is bracing for an economic contraction of over 4% this year because of the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. – Thomson Reuters Foundation.