COVID-19: Durban’s St Augustine’s Hospital To Be Kept Under Quarantine

KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said that Netcare’s St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban will be kept under quarantine for now.

Simelane-Zulu announced on Wednesday night that the hospital had been shut indefinitely after the deaths of five COVID-19 patients who were treated at the hospital.

The MEC said that all non-COVID-19 patients had been discharged from the hospital and taken to other facilities, while those with minor ailments had been sent home.

Government officials said that 66 people connected with St Augustine’s Hospital had been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Forty-eight of those infected are health workers.

MEC Simelane-Zulu said that the remaining COVID-19 patients were receiving treatment.

“We’ve also indicated to the hospital that it has a responsibility of quarantining the health workers that were infected within the facility.”

Simelane-Zulu said that after the quarantined health workers and patients had fully recovered, officials would work with the hospital management to ensure that the facility was safe to be reopened.

EWN