DURBAN - As KwaZulu-Natal is expected to reach its Covid-19 infection peak in the coming weeks, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize is in the province in an attempt to face the challenges faced by the province.
KwaZulu-Natal Province has currently recorded 1 939 new cases. The province contributed 23% of the new cases nationally. The Province contributes 13% of the deaths countrywide. The province continues to be the fourth highest in terms of deaths.
“We have come to visit KZN in particular to look at its readiness. We are coming here largely because the surge is going to be the highest in the coming weeks. The number of positive cases is now increasing in province than any other province, that is because KZN is taking off much later and therefore the surge is going to show a later than the other provinces have been doing. The key issue here is to look at whether we have enough beds available, enough stuff, enough oxygen available, adequate staff to be able to deal with those issues,” Mkhize said.
The Minister is on a two-day visit to KZN to inspect the province's state of readiness. The Minister's tour kicked off at Edendale Hospital, where he expressed his satisfaction with the standard of the flu clinic. He then moved to Richmond Hospital, which has, within just months, been converted from a TB facility into a Covid-19 hospital with a total of 95 beds for quarantine and isolation.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO)
experts who arrived in the country yesterday will be
required to complete an initial period of quarantine and testing before being cleared before being deployed to the province.
The experts will be initiated into the current national health efforts and informed on how the National Department of Health is supporting provincial Covid-19 programmes, they will be deployed in the following provinces: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal and Mpumalanga
“These provinces have been identified as the ones needing the most urgent support where the first team can make the most impact. As the remaining experts are deployed by WHO, all provinces in the country will benefit from their presence,” said Dr Sandile Buthelezi, the Director General of Health.
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