Ramathuba: Testing, screening the secret to Limpopo’s Covid success
Limpopo Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba has hailed the reduction in the number of people who test positive for Covid-19 in the province.
The province recorded 33 new Covid-19 cases and three Covid-related deaths in the 24 hours leading up to Wednesday.
The latest deaths brought the total number of people who died of Covid-related illnesses to 325.
The national Health Department said in a statement on Tuesday that 67 people died of Covid-related complications, but Ramathuba says the statistics include deaths dating back to July and August.
"Even people that died at home…because of the challenges that are in the reporting, you will find that the deaths include cases that happened over a long period of time."
Ramathuba says the province learnt a lot from the quarantining of the South Africans students who were repatriated from Wuhan.
"All the effort we have put since the beginning of the pandemic paid off. Our approach has always been that we must have minimal cases so we started the campaign very early and it was boosted by us accepting to quarantine the people repatriated from Wuhan.
“For us it was a huge responsibility to study the virus as the province and from that particular time we never slept. We understood that, in order for us to win the battle we have to quarantine, test those who have been exposed and quarantine them even if they are negative, isolate those who are positive and get their contact."
LISTEN TO DR PHOPHI RAMATHUBA HERE:
Ramathuba says the province’s relative success in containing the virus was also down to household testing and screening.
"We took time to start, while planning how to distribute community healthcare workers, also ensuring that they have all PPE's required. That is why we recorded few healthcare workers who have tested positive or succumbed to the virus.
“We ensured that no healthcare worker touches a patient without a PPE and we also taught our doctors and health workers how to wear proper PPEs."
The province also put a specific focus on the mining sector.
"We were the first province to see more cases in the mining areas and we introduced community-based approach toward the surge and we beefed up household screening, bringing healthcare workers and teaching people how to quarantine at home,” the MEC says.
