Briefing the portfolio committee on health on Wednesday evening, Kubayi said the department was affected by the violent riots where some South Africans were seen looting without observing Covid-19 regulations.
Acting health minister Mmamoloko Kubayi says the department of health is concerned that South Africans who participated in the looting spree will increase the number of Covid-19 infections. File photo.The health department says it’s concerned about the likelihood of increased Covid-19 infections as a result of the looting spree in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in the past 10 days.
“We continue to be worried about the likelihood in the next seven to 14 days of seeing the numbers going up,” said the minister.“This was done to ensure the security of the vaccines so that they didn't end up in the wrong hands or get lost because people were not able to move across the province,” she said.
“In terms of health facilities that were disrupted, we were able to secure distribution of oxygen to hospitals with police escorts.Kubayi said work was continuing to assess the losses, especially in KZN. “We have a sense of where we are, especially in KZN specifically, but it is not yet finalised because some of the people are still accessing the sites to see what is there and quantify what the loss is.
The department’s Dr Nicholas Crisp said: “The estimated number of missed vaccination is around 250,000 based on the number of vaccinations that the provinces were doing before the disruptions. The actual loss of doses looks like around 25,000 but we are still getting information in terms of those lost or destroyed.
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