Arrival at Tshwane district hospital to assess preparedness for the surge in Gauteng Province. #TshwaneVisit
We do appreciate all that you have done, our health care workers are all important. We have to do everything to try and make sure that everyone is well trained, well protected and their mental health supported. #TshwaneVisit
The numbers are increasing- we are right in the storm. We need to be determined to keep the numbers of fatalities as low as possible. Wherever you are, you are not fighting your own battle...you are fighting on behalf of the whole nation. #TshwaneVisit
We haven’t reached capacity yet but from last week we raised the issue of increasing bed capacity. Daily updates with the province are received on how many more beds have been added. We also need to make sure we increase capacity for PUI’s. #TahwaneVisit
We can’t defer non-Covid issues, so increasing bed capacity has to take into account all the other services that must continue. #TshwaneVisit
We want to make sure that we increase the number of nurses.We must work together with all the agencies and recruit. We must balance the numbers of those who are on leave due to isolation or quarantine and those who must be recruited. #TshwaneVisit
The lockdown helped and it reduced the numbers. We eased lockdown for various reasons- one being to address the challenge of food and income security. Secondly our own models indicated you may not be able to get more benefit after a certain period. #TshwaneVisit
We are already working together with industry on the supply of oxygen. They are beginning to divert supply to hospitals. #TshwaneVisit
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I thought about this day many times and wished it would never come or at least not now!!
Remembering the first day we went as team led by Nxamalala in 1994 as the 3 newly appointed ANC MECs in Kzn
We reached NND around 22:00
Isilo came out of kwaKhangela Palace opened his arms and said “welcome home” and gave loud laugh as we were ushered in
We had dinner at 01:00 and toured all palaces waking up the oNdlunkulu to greet and we left Nongoma 06:30.
As we joined caucus in legislature in Pietermaritzburg at 11:00, we were still in disbelief of the night gone by as we gave the account to our comrades.
The government’s process of procuring vaccines preceded the discovery of the 501Y.V2 variant and other variants. #VaccineRolloutSA
Before the efficacy results, SA could not delay receipt of the vaccine batches to await the results of the efficacy studies by our scientists, as this would have relegated the country to the back of the line for vaccines due to global shortage of supplies. #VaccineRolloutSA
There are concerns in the public domain about the expiry date of the received AstraZeneca vaccine batches (30th April 2021).#VaccineRolloutSA
We have always said the second wave is going to be coming and the only way we will be protected is by developing herd immunity through vaccination. #VaccineStrategy
The only way of being able to deal with the #COVID19 pandemic is the provision of immunity through vaccination. We have been trying to follow what the best way is to deal with this. #VaccineStrategy
The vaccines will need to be made available quickly so that most of our citizens are
covered by the end of the first year of rollout - this year. #VaccineStrategy
28 469 South Africans are known to have succumbed to COVID-19 this year- amongst those were 436 public health care workers who paid the ultimate price in the frontline. #NYECandleLighting
Our health care workers continue to bravely fight this war even though they have been pushed beyond their call of duty. #NYECandleLighting
But we must remember that as the rate of transmission rises so too do the infections amongst health care workers rise. To date, we have recorded a cumulative 43 124 health care workers who became infected with #COVID19. #NYECandleLighting