Over the past seven days, KwaZulu-Natal has recorded over 9 000 new COVID-19 cases. This was revealed by Premier Sihle Zikalala in his weekly update on the pandemic. He has urged people to refrain from attending gatherings.
As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise the KwaZulu-Natal, Premier Sihle Zikalala says in one week 98 people died of coronavirus-related illnesses, while 9 767 new cases were recorded.
He also revealed that the province has 873 COVID-19 cases in schools. However, Zikalala says there have been no COVID-19 transmissions on school premises.
Sihle Zikalala says KZN will not revert to a stricter lockdown:
Zikalala says there are currently 1 310 COVID-19 patients in private and public hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal, of whom 159 are in intensive care units. More than half of the ICU patients are on ventilators.
“With regards to statistics in the province, as of yesterday (Saturday), KwaZulu-Natal has had 23 751 positive cases, of which 17 450 are still active, 208 deaths and 6 021 recoveries. A week ago, we had 13 984 cases, of which 9 605 were active, 182 deaths and 4 197 recoveries. This means that in just a week, we have had 9 767 new COVID-19 cases. But also, sadly, we’ve had 98 new deaths and an additional 1 824 recoveries.”
The province is currently on a surge, recording above 1 000 cases daily. We are still the fourth highest ranking province with a number of laboratory-confirmed cases countrywide. However, the province is ranking the third highest in terms of laboratory testing. The province contributed 14% of the new cases recorded nationally.”
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‘No infection recorded at schools’
He says most schools returned smoothly.
“In most schools, the Grade 6 and 11 have now also returned to school smoothly. We continue to monitor the infection rate at schools like we do in all other sectors. To date, we have 873 cases in KZN in schools involving teachers, learners, staff such as gardeners, ground people and other officials. It is important to note that at this stage, there is no infection that has been contaminated from the school.”
The Premier says the eThekwini municipality continues to carry the highest burden of COVID-19 in the province. He says the province has screened and tested 7 million people.
“Among the 11 districts, eThekwini continues to receive the majority of cases and is accounting for 53% of the total cases provincially. eThekwinin and its neighbouring districts account for 60% of the cases recorded daily.”
Zikalala says a health promotion strategy is being put together to spread and create awareness about the virus.
He has urged people to be responsible and stop attending gatherings.
Sihle Zikalala says KZN rural communities aren’t adhering to lockdown regulations:
