Coronavirus is cruelly ravaging society killing people like flies, leaving those who are still alive with fear and with one question, who is next?
The worst is that it’s no longer strong in the cities as before it is here in our homes. This has caused communities, health workers, funeral undertakers, and families to work under stress with a high number of funerals conducted in many villages. Cllr Sibongiseni Vikwa of Ward 6 in Matatiele said thirteen funerals have been conducted in his ward last weekend only. “Although some families do not want to agree that their people die because of Covid 19 these thirteen funerals occurred during covid era something that has never happened before”, said Vikwa.
On the other hand, unconfirmed reports from both Private and Public hospitals in Matatiele are saying that both hospitals are under stress. It is reported that a number of deaths happened at Taylor Bequest hospital last week as a consequence hospital staff had to call funeral parlours in town to come and collect bodies to open up space for other patients.
Chairperson of the Mt Fletcher, Matatiele funeral parlours association Vuyisile Tshobeni described the situation of collecting bodies from the hospital as scary. A number of relatives had to find their deceased bodies in different mortuaries where a person is not subscribed to. “It is also scary because bodies are piling in cool rooms of the few mortuaries that we have in town, of which that is the situation we are not used to”, said Tshobeni.
The spike of Covid 19 related deaths in the Alfred Nzo region forced Executive Mayor Sixolile Mehlomakhulu to appeal to each and every resident to take extra precautions to curb the spread of deadly Covid 19. On Monday this week, Alfred Nzo was counting about 217 deaths, with 6910 positive cases. According to the Mayor, the recovery rate has dropped by 2% into 87,9% from last week’s 90%. He said this means people are dying at an alarming rate as infections continue to rise.
Mehlomakhulu said in a statement that hotspot areas are noted as Ntabankulu (Urban and ward 13), Umzimvubu –KwaBaca (Urban Area, Badibanise and Silver City), Umzimvubu – EmaXesibeni (Urban and Santombe), Matatiele (Urban Area and Maluti), and Mbizana (Urban area). Two weeks back President Cyril Ramaphosa decided to bring back the country to level 3 due to the rising number of infections and deaths. Today the country has recorded 755 deaths bringing the number of deaths to 34334 since the first wave of coronavirus. Addressing the nation President Ramaphosa said the cabinet has identified funerals as the super spreader of covid 19.
He emphasized that the number of people attending funeral services must be 50 and not more. In his weekly press conference, Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyana observed that families are opening bodies before burial and some are exhuming bodies and appealed for that to stop.
