Minister warns larger number of COVID-19 cases imminent in KZN
Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize says we must brace for a major hike in the number of COVID-19 infections in the coming weeks.
Mkhize visited the Tshwane District Hospital on Friday to check its preparedness for the spike in cases in Gauteng.
"The numbers that we expect to be increasing, they'll be increasing in all the provinces.
"Right now it's Gauteng which is the highest followed by the Western Cape, and then Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal is also going to be soon following in larger numbers as well," he says.
READ: eThekwini still KZN's COVID-19 epicentre
Mkhize says extending the hard lockdown wouldn't have kept the surge away.
"There'll still be a surge at some point, and in this case, our modellers are indicating that the surge is coming up as expected in the July, August and part of September.
ALSO READ: South Africa records over 13 000 new COVID-19 cases
"But at the same time that it's happening at a lower number than initially forecast but that does not mean that those numbers are not going to put a strain in our health services," he says.
Gauteng overtook the Western Cape as the epicentre this week.
It has over 81 500 cases. The province's recovery rate is under 30 percent.
KwaZulu-Natal has recorded 1 667 new cases - taking our total to over 19 000 infections. KZN's recovery rate is 30 percent.
