Health Minister Zweli Mkhize asked health authorities to determine the effects of alcohol-related admissions in hospitals.
CAPE TOWN – With growing concerns that COVID-19 cases are on the rise in some provinces, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Tuesday urged authorities to identify places that were super spreader sites so that they can be closed.
The minister was addressing health professionals in the Eastern Cape today, which is one of the provinces where cases are on the rise.
The province has seen a significant surge in cases this month.
Mkhize asked health authorities to determine the effects of alcohol-related admissions in hospitals.
The sale of alcohol was banned during the hard lockdown as hospitals needed to concentrate on fighting COVID-19.
The minister said he was concerned that staff exhaustion at health facilities could lead to them being burdened.
“Once you start seeing staff fatigue and overcrowding in the casualty areas – all of those issues begin to worry us so we need to look at what the impact of alcohol is.”
The Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in the Eastern Cape is seeing a rise in cases with nearly 109,000 infections since the virus broke out
Mkhize says they’re now focusing on rapid community testing to help authorities to decide what interventions should be taken to contain the spread of the virus.