Zambia has seen an improvement in the availability of oxygen following a critical shortage due to increased COVID-19 cases as the third wave rages on, a government official said on Tuesday.

Kennedy Malama, Permanent Secretary in charge of Technical Services in the Ministry of Health has since thanked local producers for responding to the oxygen shortage by making the commodity available.

"We continue making good progress in commodity security to ensure enhanced quality of care in our health facilities. We are pleased to report that we have greatly improved our oxygen availability," he said during a COVID-19 update press briefing.

Zambia currently has 12,163 active cases, with 11,203 under community management while 960 are admitted to isolation facilities.

Out of those admitted, 696 are on oxygen therapy with 152 in critical conditions.

The country's cumulative cases currently stand at 178,748 following 2,006 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours while total deaths stand at 2,904 following 37 new deaths during the past 24 hours.