Covid-19 cases rise as KZN enters third wave

KWAZULU-NATAL premier, Sihle Zikalala has confirmed that the province has officially entered its third wave.

According to the premier, KZN has recorded more than 3 000 new cases for three consecutive days.

“The province is reporting the second-highest number of daily confirmed cases. Our third wave appears to be due to the sustained increase in the rate of new infections. The surge in cases appears to have been driven, in the main, by the recent large gatherings by people engaging in looting and destruction of property; an increase in inter-provincial travel; and large gatherings at pubs and restaurants.

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“We have also noted an increase in cluster cases, with schools emerging as the biggest contributor in this regard. In fact, more than 120 schools have reported clusters in their school settings; and more than 800 learners and teachers have been affected. Learners make up at least 95% of this number, while educators account for the remaining 5%,” he said.

Zikalala added the number of hospitalisations is also increasing steadily in both the public and private health facilities, with some facilities reporting extremely high occupancy rates in ICU beds.

“The department is looking at alternatives in expanding ICU bed capacity. We can indicate that there are still enough beds in the province. We have also retained the number of field hospitals that were being utilised during the first and second waves. We have also established a roving team of highly-skilled people, such as epidemiologists, public health specialists, medical experts, infection control experts, and nursing professionals, to assist districts that are experiencing a surge in cases.

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“We are urging citizens of KwaZulu-Natal to go to their nearest health facilities if they’re not feeling well, in order to reduce the number of home deaths and patients dying on arrival at our health care facilities. We also want to stress once again that compliance to non-pharmaceutical measures such as the wearing of masks, regular hand washing with soap and water, and social distancing, is key,” he added.