PICS: Durban beaches packed with maskless holidaymakers amid Covid-19 fourth wave
|Published
DURBAN - While KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala on Sunday announced a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases in the province, thousands of holiday makers were enjoying their time at the beach in Durban.
The Mercury published a picture on today’s front page showing the crowds at Wedge Beach near Durban’s Funworld.
The picture sparked debate on national TV news channels this morning over when the picture was taken as the holidaymakers were not wearing masks.
African News Agency (ANA) photographer Doctor Ngcobo, who took the pictures, said he had first covered the protest on the beachfront promenade over the seismic survey off the Wild Coast yesterday morning.
He later returned to Wedge Beach yesterday to take pictures of the crowds.
“I wanted get an aerial shot to show how large the crowds were but I was not able to so I asked the lifeguards on duty if I could climb on to their lifeguard tower on the beach and they allowed me.”
Zikalala announced yesterday that the province was in the fourth wave of the pandemic.
According to the Covid-19 statistics for yesterday, the province recorded 687 new cases and has 7 378 active cases.
THE MERCURY