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‘THREAT OF RESURGENCE’ Don’t be complacent, says premier

CHANELLE LUTCHMAN chanelle.lutchman@inl.co.za

KWAZULU-Natal had not yet entered the Covid-19 third wave, Premier Sihle Zikalala said during a media update on Sunday.

“About a month ago, KZN was registering an average of 130 to 150 new infections.

“Sometimes, our infections would go as low as 70 to 80 or so. But over the past two weeks or so, we have been recording more than 500 new cases each day; with only a few exceptions, where the number would be around 400.

“Worryingly, the province did cross the resurgence line on the 9th of June 2021, but then dropped below the alert threshold on the 10th of June 2021. On the 15th of June, we again crossed the alert line but currently, we have remained below the threshold since the 16th June.”

Zikalala said that while the numbers were low, people should not be complacent.

He said KZN continued to rank as the second-highest in terms of the number of laboratory-confirmed cases countrywide, contributing 19% or 346 329 of the cases.

“We rank as the fourth highest in terms of fatalities countrywide, following the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and the Western Cape. Five districts, which are eThekwini, UMgungundlovu, UThukela, Amajuba and UMzinyathi, continuously received the highest number of cases on a daily basis.

“Only Harry Gwala District observed a remarkable decline in the number of new cases in the past week.

“All of this should serve as proof of how real the threat of a resurgence really is.”

He said the number of hospital isolations continued to fluctuate. There was a slight increase in daily admissions in both the private and public sectors, including ICU and patients requiring ventilation.

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2021-06-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thepostza.pressreader.com/article/281573768658820

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