The coronavirus ministerial advisory committee had projected the province would have more than 200,000 patients by the middle of this month.

This comes amid an increasing number of infections and deaths linked to the coronavirus.

Last week, health workers at Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital staged a picket demonstration and called for enhanced safety measures after 126 staff members tested positive for the virus.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala said that they would implement what he called strategic interventions in COVID-19 hotspots rather than restricting economic activity.

Over the past week, COVID-19 cases in the province have dramatically increased from 7,786 to 13,984.

Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu said they are now hoping that President Cyril Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni will avail the much-needed funds.

The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department has decided that grade R pupils in the province will not return to school on Monday in line with the rest of the country.

Cosatu in KZN has staged a picket outside the offices of the provincial Treasury in Pietermaritzburg – among their demands is for vacant positions within the state to be filled.

Previously, the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among healthcare workers emanated from Netcare’s St. Augustine’s Hospital in Durban.

Only one of the province’s 54 municipalities received a clean audit.

They claim that about 100 health workers have been infected and want all staff members to be tested.

Irregular expenditure among the country's municipalities has increased to R32 billion in the 2018/19 financial year.

The skills development programme forms part of interventions that the local government has been able to achieve as a result of the lockdown.

The rail operator said this had delayed the resumption of operations under level three regulations, but they were working to get the trains back on the tracks.

Grades 1, 2, 3, 6, 10 and 11 will be able to return to classes from Monday.

The province’s Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu said that with guidance from the Health Department they had relooked at their virus containment measures.

The UNFPA’s Beatrice Mutali said that the scourge of gender-based violence exacerbated by the lockdown in South Africa was concerning.

Santaco in the province appeared undecided on whether to violate regulations by loading 100% capacity per load of passengers.