The Zambian Bishop also confirmed that he had been transferred to Levy Mwanawasa Hospital “where they have better facilities for COVID-19 patients.”
Ordained a Priest for the Archdiocese of Lusaka in August 1994, the late Bishop has been at the helm of Monze Diocese since May 2014.
At the time of his death, Bishop Hamungole was also serving as the Chairman of the Commission for Social Communications of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB).
He was also the Chairman of the department of Social Communications at the Nairobi-based Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA).
Prior to his Episcopal Ordination, Bishop Hamungole served as the head of English Africa section of the Rome-based Vatican Radio.
Bishop Hamungole is the first Catholic Bishop known to have contracted the coronavirus in his country where 31,100 cases have been reported, including 509 deaths and 21,568 recoveries.
In Africa, the President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Phillip Cardinal Ouédraogo, tested positive for the coronavirus in April 2020 and later recovered. Earlier, in March 2020, the Vicar Apostolic of Ethiopia’s Gambella Vicariate, Bishop Angelo Moreschi, succumbed to the virus.
In August, the Bishop of Nigeria’s Yola Diocese also tested positive for COVID-19 and later recovered.
The Archbishop of Kenya’s Nyeri Archdiocese who recovered from the disease expressed appreciation to the people of God in the East African nation, thanking them for journeying with him in prayers as he battled with COVID-19.
Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.
