Covid-19 death rate in KZN cause for concern
The JOC said it needed to find out why the province had a huge number of deaths and was third in terms of the number of confirmed cases.
Lolo Madonsela
The AbaQulusi Joint Operation Committee (JOC) has expressed its concerns over a high number of deaths in KwaZulu-Natal, due to Covid-19.
South Africa was standing at 12 deaths as of Tuesday last week, with seven of those from KZN (numbers may have gone up by the time of publication).
The JOC said it needed to find out why the province had a huge number of deaths and was third in terms of the number of confirmed cases.
The committee also stated more investigations needed to be done to identify hotspot areas for infections and deaths, so those communities could be educated further and residents of those areas warned to distance themselves.
It was also agreed that a plan needed to be put in place to curb the deaths, as much as there was a need to curb infections and the spread of the virus.
Another issue brought forward was the testing of frontline employees with or without flu-like or coronavirus symptoms.
Also read: World Health Organisation: The world needs solidarity to fight Covid-19
The CEO of Vryheid District Hospital, Fikile Ngema, who also sits on the JOC, said test kits had not yet arrived.
Once the hospital has received them however, the first group to be tested would be healthcare workers before cascading to other essential employees from the departments forming the JOC.
Representatives of the South African National Taxi Council added they do sanitise their taxis and commuters, and ensure passengers employ social distancing measures even inside vehicles.
Taxi drivers were reportedly still waiting for the Department of Health to test them, despite having already given permission.
In terms of water distribution in rural areas, it was revealed that JoJo tanks would be delivered to the Zululand District Municipality, but AbaQulusi was not identified as a highly affected municipality.
Another concern raised was about the companies still in operation, such as funeral parlours which were making coffins and claiming this was an essential service, and other industries including paper production and motor spares.
This led to questions on obtaining permits online, which the JOC agreed had to still be looked into.
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