KZN Health MEC urges public to vaccinate amid rise in Covid-19 cases

THE KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health says that there may be a Covid19 resurgence in the province.

Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said at the weekend that while there was a steady climb in cases last week, Saturday was the first time in months that the number of new infections pushed the seven-day average from 414 to 1 171.

According to the latest statistics from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), there were 619 cases reported in KZN yesterday.

The NICD said there were 2 650 new Covid-19 cases identified across South Africa, which brought the number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 798 413. This increase represents a 21% positivity rate.

Simelane also raised concern about the rising number of patients hospitalised for Covid-19. She said of the 437 people currently admitted in public and private hospitals for Covid-19, 47 were in ICU and nine on ventilators, while a week ago KZN had 342 people hospitalised with Covid-19, including 44 in ICU and 11 on oxygen.

The MEC said that in terms of their emergency early warning systems, a 10% increase in cases over a seven-day moving average would trigger an alert, while a 20% increase in cases over a seven-day moving average, which is what they had seen, might trigger a resurgence.

“At this stage, we’re not sure whether this is the fifth wave or not, but these developments are cause for concern. That is why we are urging all the people of this province to stay alert and to practise all the necessary precautions, such as wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and washing their hands regularly,” said Simelane.

More then 16 000 people have lost their lives to the virus in the province, and to date KZN has fully vaccinated 2.7 million people while a total of 4.4 million have not received a vaccine.

“We are pleading with those who have not been vaccinated to come forward and get the jab. This is for their own good, because people who are not vaccinated are more likely to be infected with Covid-19 and more likely to transmit Covid-19 to others. They are also at a much higher risk of dying from the infection compared to vaccinated people,” she said.

Public health specialist Dr Atiya Mosam said there were issues of concern in KZN.

“The first is the low vaccination rates, especially as we are seeing that those who are vaccinated are experiencing milder disease. So we would really urge people to be vaccinated.

“The second is the displacement of so many people during the recent floods and the potential for diseases to spread when people are in close proximity, such as in shelters,” said Mosam.

Mosam urged the public to ensure that they were vaccinated, wore their masks especially in closed and shared spaces and that they practised physical distancing.