DURBAN - KWAZULU-NATAL Department of Health hospitals, community health centres and clinics have returned to their normal working conditions following riots that affected many parts of the province.
This was according to Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane after conducting a number of oversight visits to assess the damage that had occurred during the civil unrest.
“We are quite satisfied with the gradual return to normal working conditions at health facilities throughout the province. We are still calculating the real costs of the damage, but we are pleased that most staff have returned to work. Yes, the queues are a bit longer than usual, but they will become shorter as more people get seen.”
She said the supply of auxiliary services such as food, oxygen and fuel continued to run smoothly while Emergency Medical Services and Forensic Pathology Services were also up and running.
Simelane added that the province was also edging closer to reaching one million vaccinations.
“We are also happy that the vast majority of Covid-19 vaccination sites (192 sites) are now up and running.”
A total of 986 311 people (health workers, teachers, those aged 50 and above) have been vaccinated in the province while a total of 217 511 people aged 35 have been registered on the Electronic Vaccine Data System and are scheduled to start getting vaccinated on August 1, 2021. As of July 20, 2021, the province has registered a total of 377 395 Covid-19 cases, with a total of 15 695 active cases and 349 031 recoveries. There have also been a total of 11 175 deaths Covid-19 related deaths.
In addition, 1814 patients are admitted in both private (1 004) and public (810) hospitals.
On Tuesday night, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported that South Africa recorded 8 929 new Covid-19 cases, which brought the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2311 232 and represented a 22.2% positivity rate.
A further 596 Covid-19 related deaths were reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 67 676.
NICD Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response head Dr Michelle Groome said testing rates had decreased in the past two weeks.
“And while this may be reflective of a decreased need for testing due to decreased infections, access to testing has been limited in certain areas due to the social unrest. Thus, trends in the coming week will be important in confirming whether the peak of the third wave has indeed been reached or not.”
NICD Public Health Surveillance and Geospatial Modelling senior medical epidemiologist Dr Harry Moultrie said the national seven-day moving average of Sars-CoV-2 cases declined since July 6, 2021, largely because of the decline in Gauteng.
Moultrie said the percentage testing positive, however, increased in the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Western Cape in week 28 compared to previous weeks.
“While the percentage testing positive has decreased in Gauteng, Limpopo and North West, the percentage testing positive remained very high (>35%) in these provinces.”
Last week, the National Health Laboratory Service said protest action in KZN and Gauteng had affected its operations.
Data they collected was used to monitor and track the pandemic to provide provinces with the necessary information to deploy the required resources however, that was not possible in KZN and sick patients were not getting tested.
Daily News