Newly appointed Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said on Friday that while it is encouraging that Covid-19 infections are declining in Gauteng, the department was concerned with rising infections moving into the coastal areas.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s anticipated Cabinet reshuffle on Thursday night saw Phaahla replacing Zweli Mkhize as Minister. Mkhize was placed on special leave after his alleged involvement with the Digital Vibes contract and resigned before Ramaphosa’s Cabinet reshuffle.

Phaahla noted that the Western Cape had become the epicentre of the pandemic, however he expressed confidence with the province’s containment measures to deal with rising hospitalisations and oxygen needs.

He said infections in KwaZulu-Natal were also rising rapidly, while the Eastern Cape was experiencing a low increase. The department was also concerned that infections in the Northern Cape have not declined as it had hoped.

He said the country’s third wave was taking a very similar pattern to the first and second waves.

“We are watching this because this is presenting a very similar pattern. We need to work with the province of the Western Cape to make sure that they can be able to do all the tried and tested measures in terms of containment of the infections, make sure that they have the ready bed capacity, oxygens and all other necessities to make sure that those who need hospitalisation can be looked after,” Phaahla said.

The Department of Health is working with the Western Cape province to provide help for patients who are stable but positive and for patients who will need isolation and observations in ordinary hospital wards.

The Minister stressed that contact tracing remains an important part of the containment measures for the Western Cape.

The department will closely monitor the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

COVID-19 VACCINATION PROGRAMME

Phaahla said the country now has over 10-million doses of vaccines, with another 20-million doses expected this month. Another 21-million doses are on order.

He explained that the country’s vaccination programme can be expanded to reach more people and can be accelerated to vaccinate more of the country’s population quickly.

Phaahla said the Vaccine Ministerial Advisory Committee and the National Essential Medicines Committee have thoroughly examined the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines as possible additional vaccines for the country, as they are effective against the raging Delta variant.