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By News24 Wire

Wire Service


In numbers – Here’s the extent of the virus outbreak in KZN

While the province is identified as one of the main infection centres in SA, Ramaphosa said KZN has so far done well.


KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala on Tuesday presented his province’s response plan for Covid-19 to President Cyril Ramaphosa, which reveals how they are dealing with the pandemic.

He divulged a great deal, including the measures put in place to deal with the predicted surge in infections in the coming months for the second-most-populated province in SA.

While the province is identified as one of the main infection centres in SA, Ramaphosa said KZN has so far done well. He did, however, add that more had to be done.

According to national figures released on Tuesday evening, KZN had 1,142 confirmed infections, and 36 deaths.

Here are some of the other numbers in KZN:

  • Latest provincial figures, as of 3 May, indicated that 268 of the total cases were in hospital isolation;
  • Total recoveries sits at 416.

The latest on contact tracing

  • Tracer teams are monitoring 3,131 people who came into contact with infected Covid-19 people;
  • Of those, 1,817 were monitored for the full 14 days;
  • The monitoring of 1,314 is currently still in play;
  • There have been 2,505 total samples collected from those being traced.

How many beds for patients does KZN have?

  • There is a total of 2,141 isolation beds;
  • Quarantine beds are sitting at 3,479;
  • High-care beds are at just 16;
  • ICU beds are at 143.

What about the homeless in KZN?

  • Zikalala revealed that in 11 districts, 61 shelters were identified;
  • Of this, just 29, or less than half, were functional;
  • A total of 2,125 homeless has been accommodated;
  • The majority are from eThekwini Metro, with 1,669.

Crime in numbers

  • 10,000 law enforcement officials are deployed daily;
  • Since lockdown, there have been 2,712 roadblocks, with 226,848 cars stopped;
  • Cases opened since lockdown were 16,917, with 18,318 arrests . Of these, 6,195 were issued with admission of guilt fines;
  • Total convictions in court since 30 March is 239, with another 18 under investigation for spreading fake news;
  • 225 schools have had incidents of theft, burglary, vandalism and arson. Nine people have been arrested;
  • There have been nine cases opened against police officers. Included in police stats were eight infected officers, of which four recovered, two are in isolation, one in hospital and one who died.

Gender-based violence in KZN

  • Zikalala revealed SAPS have opened 449 cases related to gender-based violence since 27 March; 10 of which were reported at the national gender-based command centre. This included three elderly abuse cases, one marital matter, three child abuse cases, one harassment matter, one destitute family and one case of domestic violence;
  • The Department of Social Development call centre recorded 12 gender-based violence cases;
  • 82 women and three men have been admitted to shelters for abused men and women.

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