PREMIER Sihle Zikalala has assured the public KwaZulu-Natal had forged ahead and was “well-prepared” to deal with the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
“We have seen an alarming increase in the number of positive cases in the province. For the past two months, we had less than 100 cases each day. But in the last three weeks, the province had 500 new cases reported daily and just in the past 24 hours we recorded 702 new cases,” said Zikalala.
KZN was sitting at 13 490 active cases and the province now recorded an average of 180 cases daily, with 10 290 fatalities, he explained.
However, Zikalala said the province was prepared and he was confident measures in place to fight against the new Delta variant would be enough.
There are four field hospitals in place, 3 306 prepared isolation beds and 1 411 quarantine beds and about 15000 contractual workers who would help fight the scourge of Covid-19 cases during the third wave.
“All our hospitals are well equipped in terms of oxygen and all other necessities that will aid in the fight against the Delta variant.”
The new Delta variant was first discovered in the Harry Gwala District and it currently has the lowest number of cases in comparison to the other KZN districts.
According to Zikalala, the five districts with the highest number of new cases are: eThekwini, uThukela, uMngungundlovu, AmaJuba and uMzinyathi. The remaining districts: Zululand, Ilembe, King Cetshwayo, Ugu and Harry Gwala have the least number of new cases.
“We have consulted health experts and they have confirmed the Covid-19 Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson vaccines that have already been administered to the public can also withstand the Delta variant.”
Zikalala remarked that KZN was still the leading province in terms of vaccinations.
“We are happy with how well our vaccination targets are going thus far. We have vaccinated 440 222 senior citizens, about 100 000 teachers and an additional 133 128 health workers.”
From a target of 955 000 senior citizens that need to be vaccinated, 556 479 have registered on the electronic vaccination data system as of July 7, 2021.
Zikalala provided the update when he unpacked KZN’s new battle plan to tackle both the Delta variant and the continued surge in Covid-19 infections during an interview with Alex Mthiyane on Gagasi FM this week.