Zweli Mkhize, South Africa’s Health minister disclosed on Monday in an online meeting with the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and the Select Committee on Health and Social Services that the outbreak of the pandemic disease among essential workers in South Africa has resulted in the Western cape passing Gauteng as the nerve of the outbreak in the nation.
According to Mkhize, during the early stage of the outbreak, Gauteng had the most number of confirmed cases. However, the Western Cape has experienced a skyrocketing increase in the number of cases which made them the current epicentre of the outbreak in the nation. This distortion in the pattern is evident in workplaces or essential services. Going forward, the nation needs to provide more support to intensify the response of the province in Western cape.
The country’s health minister revealed that he has been communicating with Western Cape Health MEC and he will be going to the province soon. More testing kits and PPEs would be made available in this area. The health workers would also be talked to gain more insight into the assistance needed.
Specialists arrived in South Africa from Cuba on 26 April, to assist the nation in the fight against the virus. Mkhize stated that new specialists would be deployed to Western cape including those that arrived from Cuba and his department would work closely with the provincial department on planning.
The health minister revealed his concerns over the free state having more skyrocketing numbers of COVID-19 than the eastern cape. He explained that the virus broke out in the eastern cape as a result of a large church gathering which got several people in attendance infected with the virus and also funerals attended by people. However, the situation has been managed and has been stable for the past few weeks in the area.