Festive revellers and travellers blamed for Covid spike

As Limpopo recorded more than 800 new Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours, health MEC Phophi Ramathuba has blamed festive travellers and social gatherings for the spike in infections in the province. 

Ramathuba said young people who had gone to parties, soccer tournaments and shopping malls and people who had travelled from other provinces to Limpopo during the festive season were responsible for the surge in Covid-19 infections.

“We are dealing with a new variant that attacks young people, unlike during the first wave, which targeted old people. And if you want to spread any communicable disease, give it to young people because they test positive and fail to self-isolate and still go to parties,” she said.

“The fact [is] that young people were in every gathering, including weddings, parties and malls, and mingled with those that are infected at taverns and soccer tournaments, hence we see the rapid spike.  And when people are drunk, they will not practise social distancing.”

A doctor at Mankweng Hospital who wished to remain anonymous said patients were dying in numbers because all ICU beds and oxygen machines were fully occupied.

“There is a crisis at Mankweng Hospital and we are watching patients dying in front us. Since the beginning of the year we have lost more than 15 patients and there is no plan to deal with the situation,” said the doctor.

However, Ramathuba said the hospital had 67 ICU beds, with only seven patients admitted.

“We don’t know why people spread such lies to raise fear in people’s lives,” she said.

“The only thing we are aware of is that private hospitals are full and we have agreed with them to increase their capacity because there are a lot of patients in their facilities.”

Netcare Pholoso Hospital in Polokwane has set up a temporary clinical decision unit as health-care resources are under strain.

Netcare CEO Dr Richard Friedland said: “In the last week the number of people requiring hospitalisation has escalated quickly in communities served by Pholoso and the field hospital will have 80 beds. The facility is expected to receive patients today.”

Friedland said the private hospital group was readying itself in the face of an “alarming” increase in admissions in Gauteng and elsewhere in the country.

“To ease the burden in our emergency departments and to alleviate long waiting times, we are establishing clinical decision units within certain hospitals. These will be managed by our emergency department physicians to alleviate the pressure on beds within the hospitals.

“The level of treatment required is monitored on an ongoing basis [at the clinical decision units] to ensure the most effective use and deployment of resources for optimal patient care.”