Covid-19: Health committee welcomes measures put in place by health department

The Portfolio Committee on Health says it is satisfied with the progress made by the Department of Health and Ministerial Task Team to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

The committee held a virtual meeting with Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, the health MECs of the nine provinces, ministerial advisory team chairperson Professor Salim Abdool-Karim, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and South African Health Regulatory Authority on Friday.

Its chairperson, Dr Sibongiseni Dlomo, said the committee had received an update from Mkhize on various issues such as the issuing of protective equipment and testing processes taking place across the country.

Abdool-Karim also told the committee what was happening at St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban.

Sixty-six people tested positive for Covid-19 at the hospital, 48 of them staff members, while four people died.

Abdool-Karim said the decision to go on a countrywide lockdown was “timely as the epidemic, as we see in other countries, is following a very conservative curve, not exponential. However, we should not rest but press on in this positive direction”.

The committee took a unanimous decision that the meeting should take place weekly where it will receive updates from Mkhize and the task team about developments in the fight against the pandemic.

Dhlomo said: “This is in line with Parliament’s constitutional mandate of oversight, and this will go a long way in ensuring that the committee is on board and kept abreast about the ongoing fight against the pandemic.”

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