Health Minister Doctor Zweli Mkhize has called on traditional leaders to help stop the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal by ensuring that people do not hold large gatherings or funerals.
Mkhize was speaking in Newcastle on the second day of his visit to the province to check the readiness of health facilities as COVID-19 cases in KwaZulu-Natal are expected to peak in the coming weeks.
The Minister focused on rural parts of the province as he continued to assess health facilities ahead of the expected peak in infections. He visited the Niemeyer hospital in Utrecht and Madadeni hospital outside Newcastle in the north of KwaZulu-Natal. Both hospitals are being renovated.
Mkhize says traditional leaders have a huge responsibility to help lower the rate of infection in rural communities.
“In rural areas, people turn to use meetings to convey information, to discuss local issues and so on. We have actually asked them to reduce those and make sure we do not have them; and they have actually complied.
“We also said they needed to monitor funerals and they have also complied. We also asked traditional leaders to help us to reduce some of the ceremonies which bring people together they also complied. We also asked them to encourage people to wear masks, social distancing they have also been helpful around that.
Dr Zweli Mkhize briefs media on visit to KwaZulu-Natal:
The Health Minister says the message is the same whether you are in rural areas or urban areas. “The conditions under which you contract COVID-19 are the same, All we need is to make sure that they mustn’t be a sector of our society that is neglected, simply because we are moving around only in urban areas.”
His call for rural communities to avoid holding mass gatherings was also reiterated by the chairperson of the KZN House of Traditional Leaders, iNkosi Chiliza.
Chiliza urged ndunas and inkosi’s to make sure that people who suspect their loved ones to have COVID-19 receive support. He says, “traditional leaders are helpful in ensuring their communities understand the need to adhere to lockdown regulations.”
Following a call that COVID-19 tests be done on all people dying at home in an effort to capture otherwise undetected cases, Mkhize says he has engaged the National Health Laboratory Services to ensure that they reduce backlogs of COVID-19 tests.
‘Downward trend encouraging’
Mkhize says South Africa can expect the number of COVID-19 infections to remain high for the next 2 to 3 weeks. He, however, says the downward trend in new infections is encouraging.
At the same time, Mkhize has called on all South Africans to adhere to COVID-19 preventative measures. These include wearing masks, regularly washing hands, and maintaining social distancing. He says if people don’t do this, the country can have a second, worse surge in the pandemic when the lockdown is relaxed to stimulate the economy.
