- Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramthuba says the province is in the grips of a third wave of Covid-19 infections.
- She says the province is, in particular, seeing a rise in Covid-19 infections among children.
- Ramathuba added that the vaccination of documented farmworkers would kick off this week.
Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba has raised the alarm over increasing Covid-19 infections among young children in the province.
Ramathuba confirmed that Limpopo was now officially in the grips of the third wave.
With the emergence of the third wave, the Health MEC said most cases in the province were from outbreaks in family clusters.
As a result of the vaccination of the elderly, the province was seeing more young children being infected.
It’s getting tough pic.twitter.com/BPAHnbzu2h
— Dr Phophi Ramathuba (@PhophiRamathuba) July 3, 2021
"It's confirmed; we are in the third wave. We can feel the pressure. I analysed numbers... and the Delta variant is here; we even have babies who tested positive, newborn babies," she added.
Ramathuba said there were 23 children aged between zero to four-years-old who tested positive and in the five to nine-year old age group, there were 34 positive cases:
The MEC stressed while the Waterberg District was leading infections rates, a mine in Lephalale had recorded over 300 cases.
She blamed the increase in cases in the province on people travelling from Gauteng, which was currently the epicentre of the pandemic in South Africa.
"Funerals have also played a role in infections. Remember that people in Gauteng travel to villages to bury, even transport bodies to Limpopo to bury. When the third wave hit GP, I knew that our province will follow after seeing how the N1 was full Friday to Sunday with people travelling to Limpopo from GP."
Ramathuba said private hospitals in the province were also experiencing pressure and urged people to use state hospitals to avoid worsening health.
"I appeal to people to make use of local public hospitals and not shun them because they have medical aid. Private hospitals are sending patients to public hospitals, putting pressure on public facilities. The oxygen you will get in a public hospital is the same as at a private hospital. Make use of local hospitals before it's too late. Our two big private hospitals are full, and we have plenty of beds in hospitals in the periphery and rural areas," she warned.
Ramathuba said all the workers the province targeted in the educated sector were inoculated in three days. On Monday, the department would be in the Mogalakwena local municipality to start the vaccination of farmworkers.
Ramathuba said while she wanted everyone in the sector to vaccinate; currently, the department could inoculate only documented people.
"We know there is a challenge of undocumented workers in the sector. Unfortunately, we need an ID to register a farmworker and vaccinate them. Those who don't have IDs will be referred to Home Affairs; there is nothing we can do about that," she added.