1. (a) The number of hospitals ready to treat COVID-19 patients is 262 hospitals.
(b) The Department conducts weekly audits on the availability, requirements and current equipment and commodities in hospitals. Where challenges are found they are highlighted to provincial officials to intervene.
2. (a) All (3467 Primary Health Care facilities/clinics) are provided with the national protocols through their provinces for handling corona virus suspected patients and are submitting individual questionnaires on their readiness to respond to the pandemic.
(b) Precautions to be taken in the event of an outbreak in Clinics include use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE's) by all staff; ensuring effective triage facilities are in place to separate patients with COVID-19 symptoms from those without symptoms, rapid and safe referral of patients to hospitals for patients who need to be hospitalised.
(3) The initial transmission of the COVID-19 virus was from imported cases from high risk countries. The ban on travel in/out of the country is purely to disrupt transmission from other countries, especially high risk countries.
(4) A comprehensive Risk Communication and Stakeholder Engagement (RCCE) Strategy has been developed as guided by the International Health Regulations of the World Health Organisation.
Some of the Objectives of this strategy are:
To ensure participation of and engagement with relevant communities to work out barriers to the implementation and uptake of public health measures.
END.