DURBAN - KWAZULU-NATAL Premier Sihle Zikalala has appealed to the public to adhere to alert level 2 lockdown safety measures to prevent KZN from entering its third wave of Covid-19 infections.
Speaking at a briefing in Durban on Sunday, the premier said KZN has not yet entered its third wave yet, based on the increase of cases over a seven-day period.
He said based on the latest information gathered over the past 24 hours, the province had recorded 227 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases to more than 340 000.
“The province of KwaZulu-Natal continues to observe an increase in the number of new cases recorded weekly, which is concerning,” said the premier.
The total number of people who have lost their lives to the virus stands at over 10 500.
“The overall percentage change in the number of new cases between week 21 and 22 was 24%. The actual number of new cases was 726 for week 21 and 900 for week 22 respectively.”
Zikalala said Amajuba District was the only district to reach the alert line, with cases increasing slightly in the past three weeks. He added that although eThekwini had not reached the alert level, the city had the highest number of cases and continued to contribute the highest percentage of deaths, at 36%. Of the total deaths, 212 (2%) occurred at home.
He said the median age for the deaths was 63 years, while more than half of the deceased were female (54%) and, of the total deaths, 7 290 (69%) had comorbidities.
Recoveries stand at 325 295 and active cases at 4 163.
Breakdown of Covid-19 figures per district:
- EThekwini: Total cases 160 241, active cases 1 191, deaths 3 849 and recoveries 155 201 (96.9%)
- ILembe: Total cases 22 902, active cases 321, deaths 576 and recoveries 22 005 (96.1%)
- UMgungundlovu: Total cases 36 848, active cases 377, deaths 1 621and recoveries 34 850 (94.6%)
- UThukela: Total cases 14 251, active cases 123, deaths 516 and recoveries 13 612 (95.5%)
- King Cetshwayo: Total cases 29 308, active cases 88, deaths1 075 and recoveries 28 145 (96.0%)
- Ugu: Total cases 18 271, active cases 550, deaths 600 and recoveries 17 121 (93.7%)
- Amajuba: Total cases 13 069, active cases 147, deaths 656 and recoveries 12 266 (93.9%)
- UMkhanyakude: Total cases 11 189, active cases 11, deaths 418 and recoveries 10 760 (96.2%)
- Harry Gwala: Total cases 8 576, active cases 513, deaths 409 and recoveries 7 654 (89.2%)
- Zululand: Total cases 14 372, active cases 622, deaths 407 and recoveries 13 343 (92.8%)
- UMzinyathi: Total cases 7 426 , active cases 198, deaths 407 and recoveries 6 821 (91.9%)
- Unallocated: Total cases 3 539, active cases 22, deaths 0 and recoveries 3 517 (99.4%)
In total, KZN has a total of 339 992 cases of which 4 163 are active, 10 534 people have died and 325 295 (95.7%) have recovered.
Zikalala added that the province has managed to vaccinate a total of 360 451 people.
He said the provincial Department of Health would be opening a further 21 new vaccination sites this week.
THE MERCURY