The KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane, has called on the people of the South Coast to vaccinate against Covid-19 as the province battles to reduce the number of new infections.
The MEC said: “With the start of the new year comes the opportunity to start afresh, conduct an introspection and not repeat the same mistakes of last year. For us as individuals, it should be an opportunity to rejuvenate the mind, body and soul by becoming more health-conscious and behaving in a manner that protects us and our loved ones from acquiring and spreading diseases. We still have a lot of work to do until we achieve population immunity.”
MEC Simelane was speaking at Port Shepstone Regional Hospital where she was accompanied by Ugu District Municipality Mayor, Councillor Phumlile Mthiyane, to welcome the babies born on New Year’s Day. During their visit on 1 January, they showered the new moms with gifts for their newborns and gave presents to children who spent their New Year’s Day in the hospital due to illness.
She said: “Here at Port Shepstone Hospital we’ve had one New Year’s baby, a girl who was born to a 40-year-old mother from Makhoso area of uMthwalume, weighing 2.590kg. Both mother and baby have some health challenges and are under close medical supervision.”
As of last week, KZN breached the 15 000 mark for the number of lives lost due to Covid-19. During the peak of the festive season, the province has been averaging around 2 220 in new Covid infections. Since March 2020, Ugu has had over 30 700 positive case with close to 1 000 deaths. There has been a total of 27 152 recoveries as of Thursday, 5 January.
