
Health Minister Joe Phaahla says 66 healthcare facilities have been affected by the recent flooding in KwaZulu-Natal.
The Minister provided an update on Government’s interventions to assist flood-affected residents.
He says assistance is also being provided to residents and healthcare facilities in the Eastern Cape.
Phaahla says the priority now is to ensure that those with injuries, and those patients who are on chronic medications, get urgent medical attention.
Authorities are hard at work finalizing all post-mortem examinations, on the more than 430 people who died in the KwaZulu-Natal floods.
He says more than 60 school-going children died in the floods.
The Minister says it is important to determine exactly how these people died so that their family members can find closure.
The confirmed death toll stands at 435, with 55 people that are still missing.
Watch the minister’s full briefing here.
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- Real time audits of disaster funds.
- More than 4,800 police officers deployed to flood-stricken KwaZulu-Natal.
- Solidarity Fund to disperse funds to flood-affected residents of KwaZulu-Natal.
[Photos] #Floods | Earlier today, the Social Cluster Ministers led by the Minister of Dr Joe Phaahla provided an update on National State of Disaster pic.twitter.com/XxCPab7hvj
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) April 28, 2022

Health Minister Joe Phaahla says he is concerned with the low uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine among young people.
Vaccination for this group of South Africans, aged 18 to 34, commenced in August this year.
The Minister says, to date, only around 25% of young people had been vaccinated.
Phaahla says vaccinations among those younger than 18 are progressing well.
Watch the Department of Health’s latest Covid-19 briefing here.
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- Residents, older than 50, should get their Covid-19 vaccine as soon as possible.
- “Vaccinating children, at this point in time, a waste of valuable doses of Covid-19 vaccine”.
- Worrying decrease in Covid-19 vaccine uptake among Western Cape residents.
As of today the cumulative number of #COVID19 cases identified in SA is 2 925 939 with 262 new cases reported. Today 8 deaths have been reported bringing the total to 89 484 deaths. The cumulative number of recoveries now stand at 2 819 688 with a recovery rate of 96,4% pic.twitter.com/7vfXQzJENA
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) November 14, 2021
Send messages to your friends and family WhatsApp group encouraging them to #vaccinate before December so that you can have safe family gatherings #VaccinateToSaveSouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/WIIpk1i19m
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) November 13, 2021

Health Minister Joe Phaahla says there are very few countries in the world where the genomic sequencing of Covid-19 is as up to date, as here in South Africa.
He commended the country’s scientists for their early detection of the C.1.2 variant of the virus.
Phaahla says observing new variants in the early stages helps Government better plan for future outbreaks.
Access the Minister’s full briefing here.
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- J&J doses packaged at Aspen in the EC will not be exported to Europe anymore.
- Getting vaccinated best way to protect yourself against Covid-19.
- Majority of South Africans inoculated with Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine.
A s of today the cumulative number of #COVID19 cases identified in SA is 2 819 945 with 5 931 new cases reported. Today 76 deaths have been reported bringing the total to 83 419 deaths. The cumulative number of recoveries now stand at 2 594 857 with a recovery rate of 92,0% pic.twitter.com/3qRiTTnEHK
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) September 5, 2021
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla briefs the media on government efforts in the fight against COVID-19
Facebook: https://t.co/e9cRoVHtTM
Twitter: https://t.co/GLAKS5RrhJ
Youtube: https://t.co/VFnuV7jzCh— Department of Health (@HealthZA) September 3, 2021