KZN records 19,706 new Covid infections in a week

A total of 12 health workers have died in KwaZulu-Natal due to Covid-19.

This was revealed by KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala during a briefing on the province's latest Covid-19 numbers on Sunday.

Of the province's 40,045 cases, 1,557 are health care workers, 60% of them nurses.

“Of the total infected, less than a percentage have succumbed to the disease since the beginning of the pandemic. Nevertheless, those deaths are 12 too many. Again, may their souls rest in peace. We send our deepest condolences to their families,” said Zikalala.

The province has experienced an increase of 19,706 new cases, 136 more deaths, and 5,034 additional recoveries in a week.

“The surge continues with Ethekwini [Durban] and Umgungundlovu [Pietermaritzburg] districts recording more than half of the daily cases,” said Zikalala.

Zikalala also said that they were experiencing difficulties with private labs, which he said were not capturing the demographic information of patients correctly.

Since President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement last Sunday reinstating the alcohol ban and a curfew, Zikalala said that preliminary analysis showed pressure being eased in hospital trauma units.

“In one of our Durban hospitals, from the 6th to the 12th of July we had 155 trauma cases. But one week since the reintroduction of the ban on alcohol, from the 13th to the 18th [of July], we only had 120 trauma cases.

“We expect a further reduction in this regard, the longer the ban continues,” he said, adding that there was also a decrease in mortuary admissions of people who had died from violent causes and violent crimes over the week.

“We have always maintained that alcohol is a contributing factor in murders, attempted murders, assaults, rapes and domestic violence. We have seen a reduction in these crimes since the police in the province started enforcing the ban on the sale distribution of alcohol,” he said.