Country’s Covid-19 storm has arrived

Some of us may not be able to bury loved ones, says Minister

HEALTH Minister Zweli Mkhize says the storm that South Africans have long been warned about has finally arrived, and signals the reality that some people may not be able to bury their loved ones.

Delivering his executive statement in the National Assembly, Mkhize said the country had reached the surge.

“The storm that we have consistently warned about is now arriving,” he said.

Mkhize added that the pandemic was no longer about announcing numbers.

“We are now at the point where it’s our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, close friends and comrades who are infected.

“As a country and world at large, we are now in this reality where we must live with knowing that some of us cannot even bury our loved ones because of restrictions or even because we ourselves have been exposed,” he said.

Mkhize urged the public to change their behaviour and observe all measures announced to contain the spread of the virus.

He also said the nation had every reason to be united against Covid-19.

“We dare not be divided. As the government, we say we cannot fight Covid-19 alone. We need all political parties, social partners and every citizen to come on board,” the minister said.

The tests conducted showed that the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-natal and Gauteng accounted for 82% of the positive cases up to Monday.

As of Tuesday, there were 10 144 new cases, bringing the total confirmed cases to 215 855, with 48% recoveries and 3 470 confirmed deaths.

The Western Cape continued to have the highest number of confirmed cases, at 72 156, followed by Gauteng with 71 488, the Eastern Cape with 40 401 cases and KZN with 16 743.

“However, we expect Gauteng to have the highest number of confirmed cases, thus making it the epicentre,” Mkhize said.

He also said 139 quarantine facilities were activated across the country as of Monday. More than 20 million people had been screened and 302 713 were referred for testing.

Mkhize revealed that 4 821 healthcare workers were reported to have been infected with the virus as of June 30.

“Western Cape continues to account for the majority (68%) of infected healthcare workers, with 3 285 infections as of June 29, 2020.”

Mkhize said the Solidarity Fund had indicated its willingness to support immediate distribution of PPE to various provinces.

“This will greatly assist us in closing gaps in provinces where there are stock shortages on some PPE.”

However, he said they had sufficient PPE stock available to meet the requirements of front-line health-care workers.

Mkhize said the projected hospital bed capacity was expected to be reached in the next four weeks.

He said the department had developed and was implementing a surge strategy in anticipation of the peak.

“This will ensure that we increase capacity for Covid-19 while at the same time continue to deliver other health services to health-care users,” he said.

Responding to the speech, DA MP Siviwe Gwarube said the government’s strategy for fighting the pandemic should be grounded in concrete plans that force the curve of the infections down.

EFF MP Omphi Maotwe said the pandemic had exposed the country to poor leadership by the government.