Pretoria - The Limpopo Department of Health has confirmed that the deadly Covid-19 Delta variant has been detected in Limpopo.
In a statement released yesterday, the department said the variant was spreading rapidly after initial detection in the province.
“The department believes that the variant might be responsible for the rapid spike of Covid-19 cases and driving the third wave in the province. Figures in the province jumped from 385 cases on Tuesday to 1 780 cases on Saturday. “
Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba urged people to be extra careful.
“Our people need to understand that this variant will make it extra difficult to keep numbers low,” she said.
“Therefore, we need to warn that there is an urgent need for an extreme turnaround in (behaviour).”
Last week the province saw increased numbers in low age categories, with 67 cases of children under 9 years of age being been reported, while 638 cases were of people aged between 15 and 34.
Ramathuba added that with the discovery of the Delta variant, unrepentant behavioural patterns, such as social and political gatherings, were a recipe for disaster. “If our people continue to defiantly organise parties and other social jamborees, the spread will be too difficult to contain,” she warned.
Meanwhile, at least two private health-care facilities have reached total bed capacity. Some private health-care facilities are currently operating at more than 100% capacity and public hospitals are almost at this point.
Some hospitals have resorted to discharging other patients in order to increase the number of beds for Covid-19 patients. This as the country saw, for the second day in a space of a few days, the number of new cases breach the 26 000 figure, to reach 26 485 by yesterday morning.
The Delta variant has been blamed for the third wave and the sharp spike in numbers of infected and admitted patients, with infected, active cases reaching 2 046 311 by yesterday, 61 517 dead from the virus nationally and a total of 1 792 361 having recovered since the outbreak just over a year ago.
Pretoria News