A hospital in Durban has been closed after it turned out to be struggling to deal with covid-19 patients.
The hospital owner Netcare is seized with the investigations as 4 people died at the KwaZulu-Natal hospital and 47 staff members tested positive to covid-19. The fifth patient is reported to have died at home a day after being discharged from hospital.
Netcare CEO Richard Friedland said 33 of the St Augustine’s hospital staff are self isolating whilst 14 have been quarantined at a Netcare facility to ensure their recovery.
Professor Salim Karim who is an adviser to the Ministry of Health and specialists from the University of KwaZulu Natal have been roped in to investigate the matter.
Confirmed positive cases at the hospital were 15 with one patient reported to have recovered and discharged.
The hospital’s emergency unit shut down on 2 April after staff tested positive for covid-19.
Initially it was reported three people had died from covid-19 at the hospital but the number has been revised as four.