KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Sihle Zikalala, has declared eThekwini as the epicentre of Covid-19 in the province. He said of the new cases recorded, 77% were from eThekwini.
DURBAN – KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Sihle Zikalala, has declared eThekwini as the epicentre of Covid-19 in the province.
Zikalala was speaking at a media briefing on Sunday where he announced that KZN was the third province with the highest numbers.
“Of the new cases recorded in KZN, a staggering 77.0 % were from eThekwini District. eThekwini District has also registered the highest death rate (4.4%) since the start of the pandemic and the highest number of contact cases,” Zikalala said.
“In terms of deaths, the country has experienced 51 and 21 of these come from the province of KZN. The total number of lab-confirmed Covid-19 infected healthcare workers was 108. KZN has contributed to 18% of new cases in the country,” he said.
Commenting on the launch of the provincial community screening and testing programme, at the Jika Joe settlement, Zikalala said more than 95 000 people were screened, while 480 people were tested.
“We must at this point make our people understand that not all people will be screened and then be tested. Testing only happens after the screening has revealed the need to test. We have an army of 565 community screening and testing teams, which amounts to 1130 cadres on the ground, distributed throughout the province. This army will be increased as more people are enrolled and trained on implementation of the programme,” he said.
He said latest stats showed that KZN had a total of 587 cases of Covid-19.
“We have 15% of the patients have been admitted at both private and public healthcare facilities. Three or 4% of the 83 admitted patients are in Intensive Care, which means their situation is particularly serious. The province has discharged 38%, or 50 out of 133 hospitalised patients, since the start of the pandemic,” he said.
He said it must be noted that eThekwini Metro continues to experience the highest number and impact of COVID-19 with over half of the patients already in self-isolation.
“We have 18% of patients who have recovered, while 4% have died,” he said.
BREAKDOWN OF STATS PER DISTRICT
Amajuba – 8
King Cetshwayo – 11
Harry Gwala – 1
Ilembe – 26
Ugu – 15
UMgungundlovu – 46
UMkhanyakude – 21
UMzinyathi – 2
UThukela – 19
Zululand – 2
Ethekwini – 383
Total – 534
