The KwaZulu-Natal government aims to test about 3.2 million people living in the province for HIV in this financial year. On World AIDS Day 2020 (1 December), Premier Sihle Zikalala said so far they had tested only 60.8% or 1.9 million people in the province because of lockdown restrictions that hampered testing efforts.
But Zikalala, who addressed a crowd in Manguzi in the Umkhanyakude District, has big plans to get the HIV programme back on track.
“This is also the moment for us to seize the day,” he said, “and regain our lost ground in the fight against the TB and AIDS epidemics, which was slowed down because of a number of factors, including the disruptions that were brought about by the hard lockdown which sought to arrest the Covid-19 outbreaks.”