Durban - Almost 40 000 health-care workers have contracted Covid-19.
In his address to the nation on Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa said more than 38 000 health-care workers in the public sector had tested positive for the coronavirus.
"Of these, nearly 5 000 were admitted to hospital. Sadly, 391 health workers in the public sector have passed away," Ramaphosa said.
He said that as the country battled a second wave, the nation owed much to the brave and dedicated people and to their families for all they had done.
"As we confront the second wave of infections, we must do everything we can to support and protect our health workers," Ramaphosa said.
In the country’s hot spot areas – the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, scores of hospital staff had been testing positive for the virus.
National Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, has heaped praise on health-care workers.
"We have seen them as health workers holding each other, comforting each other and crying sometimes when they lose one of their colleagues… your hard work has not gone unnoticed. We want you to know SA is grateful for you, the African continent is grateful to you and the humanity as a whole is grateful to you. You are the unsung heroes of our struggle against an unseen enemy. You have not flinched, you have made sure that humanity is saved," he said.
IOL