KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala held a media briefing on Sunday (June 21) regarding Covid-19 in the province.

In his address, Premier Zikalala acknowledged the challenges faced by the economy since the coronavirus outbreak.

“The lockdown of the country has resulted in a number of unintended consequences, namely: a number of businesses have halted operations or down-scaled and some have completely shut down as working capital is eroded and markets are shaken; government revenue has dwindled; a number of workers have become unemployed; and the level of poverty has soared as people (both formally and informally) have lost their source of income,” he said.

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In KZN, it is estimated that the provincial economy has contracted by more than R30 billion between April and June 2020, and about 30,000 jobs in the formal and informal sectors have been lost.

The premier said that as of June 20, the province recorded 1043 new Covid-19 cases in the last seven days.

“The province continues to be the fourth highest countrywide by contributing 5% of the total cases. Since the beginning of June, all the districts that had few or no cases in March and April started reporting sporadic cases daily,” he explained.

Speaking about the growing rate of infections per district, Mr Zikalala said, “Ilembe District has the highest infection rate, considering its population size, followed by Ethekwini Metro, then Umgungundlovu and uThukela districts. We must stress that all the districts receive cases daily. However, some districts have gaps of not more than three days without new cases. This week, we observed with deep concern that we passed the 4000 mark for positive Covid-19 cases for the very first time. Currently, we have a total of 4806 confirmed cases, 2527 recoveries and 84 fatalities.”

In the uThukela District, 170 positive Covid-19 cases were reported from June 6 until June 20.

“From April 8 to date, the province has now conducted over six million screenings (6,310,861), which is more than 50% of the provincial population. Less than 2% of the cases, or 106,556, were referred for sample collection and testing. The cumulative positivity rate for community and facility screening and testing was 1.1%, or 514 per 106 556,” said the premier.

Regarding infections in the health sector, Mr Zikalala said, “We have noted a gradual increase in the number of positive cases involving public servants. This includes 400 healthcare workers. We are doing everything possible to ensure that our staff receive proper care and treatment in line with Covid-19 protocols. We trace and test staff who have been in contact with those who tested positive. We undertake daily screening of all public servants and regular decontamination of all public buildings where people have tested positive.”

He continued that, “Since the re-opening of schools, there have been 74 notifications of positive cases from local schools. Of these, educators account for 57 positive cases, learners account for 13, food handlers one, security guards one and office-based educators one.”

In the uThukela District, four educators and two learners have tested positive for Covid-19.

The Estcourt News has received several calls from locals to publish statistics of Covid-19 positive patients in Estcourt. However, the Health Department has repeatedly reiterated that it will not specify locations per town.

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