Personal hygiene is the order of the day as South Africans square up against the Coronavirus disease that has already infected 116 people in the country, but 66.2% national dam levels may not be sufficient to take on the virus that has wreaked havoc in many provinces.

The government has pleaded with citizens to wash their hands with water and soap frequently and to sanitise them regularly. The World Health Organisation has said that the practise of washing hands regularly is central to fighting this disease.

Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on Monday instructed her department, human settlements, water and sanitation, to pull out all stops to increase water provisioning and sanitation especially to the most vulnerable, people in informal settlements and rural areas, to assist in curbing the spread of the virus.

The department says that Gauteng has enjoyed steady rain over this season and its dams are near full, which will accord its approximately 15-million people sufficient water for basic use in the province.

KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West, Free State and parts of Northern Cape will enjoy the same, and while Western Cape dams are below 50% the heavy rains expected in the rainy season ahead this year can mitigate this.

But "insufficient downpours have not broken the strain of the drought in Eastern Cape and parts of Northern Cape" the department says.

"The Eastern Cape government has been declared a drought disaster area to enable it to release funds to help affected municipalities."

But with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic and the government's emphasis on washing hands as key to good hygiene standards that will help to control the spread of the disease, the province's dams are clearly deficient.

"The wash-your-hands campaign is likely to put a strain on the availability of water throughout winter unless South Africans doubled their efforts to conserve water," the department says.

Gauteng has the highest figures of people who have been infected by the Coronavirus. In the same vein, the province recorded the highest dam levels at 98.1%. The province also boasts the highest volumes of water that is stored in its reservoirs. 

It is followed by Northern Cape at 90.2% and Mpumalanga at 75.2%. According to the department’s report, Western Cape has a total 44.1% level, slightly below 50% volumes of water in its reservoirs. It is expected to be boosted by heavy winter rains that will start coming down at the end of May. 

The province of Limpopo has seen regular rainfalls that have increased the province’s dam level from 46% in the past four months to 68.4%.