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Health Minister Zweli Mkhize will visit the Eastern Cape following cluster outbreaks in the province.
- Health Minister Zweli Mkhize will visit the Eastern Cape following cluster outbreaks in the province.
- There will be more beds and doctors available to help health centers under pressure due to the increase in cases.
- The outbreak does not necessarily equate to a second wave of infections, as long as it is well managed, Mkhize said.
The Health Minister will announce interventions to contain cluster outbreaks in the Eastern Cape this week.
In a media briefing on Sunday, Health Minister Zweli Mhkize announced plans to visit the province this week following an increase in cases in areas of the Eastern Cape. The province registered an increase of 6.9 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to the 3.3 national average.
The total number of cases in the country has exceeded 750,000, with an increase of 1,842 cases bringing the total to 751,024. The death toll in the country is 20,241.
In the Eastern Cape, one of the worst affected areas is the Nelson Mandela Bay metro. Some of the cluster outbreaks in this metropolitan area could be attributed to student parties, Mhkize said.
Health facilities in the subway have come under pressure and the provincial health department was working to find more beds in health facilities in the subway, said Eastern Cape Health Department Acting Superintendent General Sibongile Zulu.
Zulu added that new infrastructure projects on the subway had provided 100 new beds, which would go into operation on Monday. He added that 72 beds had been prepared at Livingstone Hospital in the facility created as part of the 2010 Soccer World Cup disaster management plan.
“There is a campaign to recruit doctors and Doctors Without Borders will offer us support. Doctors will also be transferred from the quiet districts to the subway,” Zulu said.
These interventions, along with those Mhkize planned to announce during the week, had the potential to prevent a second wave of infections.
“We cannot say if the second salary has come. We are only seeing cluster activity. It depends on how we handle the situation in the Eastern Cape and other areas. If it is contained, the increase could decrease. If we do not” t manage it correctly, [the outbreak] it could start to spread. Activity is still quiet in several areas, “he said.
The Health Minister emphasized the importance of the public continuing to use non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as social distancing, wearing masks and regular hand disinfection, to prevent the spread of infection.
He added that while fatigue had taken hold of them, causing many South Africans to stop taking preventive measures, the department had developed a social behavior campaign aimed at addressing the “realities of the holiday season.”
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