Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has returned to the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, his second visit in just two weeks as the province battles a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. This time his visit is to oversee efforts to curb the transmission of the virus.
Even though the Department of Health is making strides to deal with this crisis, the Nelson Mandela Bay now accounts for 70% of confirmed cases in the province.
Dr. Mkhize says this is alarming and calls for quick intervention. “The Nelson Mandela Bay has continued to be clustered. Our concern is that something needs to be done in finding ways to reduce numbers. We have seen numbers increase in NMB (Nelson Mandela Bay) and EC (Eastern Cape), the number of hospitalised people, and those who have lost their lives.
“The debate now is how can we contain it, to prevent it from spreading to other parts. I indicated that we’ve seen the numbers increase and we were concerned about that. But there’s an indication that we are moving far from where we were as a country. Most numbers were driven by provinces that delayed in the earlier surge. Clearly, the numbers are now driven by new cases,” Mkhize explains.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize visits the Eastern Cape:
‘Social gatherings behind sharp rise’
The Acting Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Thsonono Buyeye, says they have identified social gatherings as super spreader events behind the sharp rise in coronavirus infections in the city.
Buyeye says the best way to curb the spread is by enforcing COVID-19 regulations in places of entertainment.
“We’ve seen videos of people out there socialise, especially where there is alcohol involved, we have not seen incidents where people have misbehaved but in terms of them socialising, drinking with no social distancing and no mask or sanitiser and sharing cigarettes and glasses, all those things that are very scary at this time especially with our rate of infections (we have seen).”
In dire need of doctors
The Eastern Cape Health MEC, Sindiswa Gomba, says there are not enough doctors in COVID-19 wards and it is a big challenge for the province at this time. Gomba has welcomed the Minister’s visit and says that although relief doctors are coming, the province is still in dire need.
“We are lucky at this time, we have got doctors that have come on board, we have doctors without borders. Our brigade of Cuban doctors have come through. We are drawing doctors from where they are not needed to Port Elizabeth. That does not suggest we have enough until we have a proper analysis of the shortage of staff.”
The province is also running short of hospital beds:
On Friday, the Minister is expected to continue the programme with visits to hotspot areas as well as the VW field hospitals. The Eastern Cape now reflects a daily surge of about 50 to 55% of positive cases.
The first is case management…I was taken through a report that the VW hospital beds are occupied at 20%, and that’s about 280 patients in a total of about 1500 beds…” #ECVisit26November
— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) November 26, 2020
Motherwell, one of the biggest townships in the metro, is amongst the hotspots, together with Zwide, Algoa Park, and Cleary Park.
