KZN Health MEC warns against ‘Covid-19 fatigue’

HEALTH MEC for KwaZulu-Natal, Nomagugu Simelane has sounded alarm bells over Covid-19 fatigue as Covid-19 cases soared over the weekend.

The MEC expressed her concern that many people appear to be taking the pandemic for granted; to the point where they have stopped taking non-pharmaceutical measures, such as the wearing of masks, washing their hands with soap and water or hand sanitiser, and practising social distancing.

“We know that, perhaps because we talk about Covid– 19 on a daily basis, people may feel like they’re growing ‘tired’ of consuming this information. But the truth is that things are really getting bad,” said Simelane.

“In the past two weeks or so, we’ve seen an exponential growth in the number of new daily infections, which is extremely concerning,” she added.

On August 22, the province recorded 3 884 new cases, bringing the total number of cases up to 450 781.

“Scientists have told us that the Delta virus that we are dealing with is a lot more infectious,” said the MEC.

Meanwhile, more than 1.8 million people have now been vaccinated in KwaZulu-Natal since the programme started earlier this year. The MEC said she found vaccine enthusiasm among youngsters encouraging.

“The president announced that people aged 18 and above will start to register to get vaccinated at the beginning of September. But recently, the new Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has been receiving many calls from youth organisations and the public in general, asking why they need to wait until September 1 to register, because they’re ready as it is. He then had a number of consultations over the weekend, and it became clear that young people are ready to get vaccinated.

“That is why from Friday onwards, everyone has been getting vaccinated. As a province, we are 100% ready to vaccinate these young people. They are the future, and if you do not protect them, it is tantamount to not taking care of the future,” said Simelanee.

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