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Cows on a farm
The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government’s executive council has instructed the disaster management centre to apply to the national structure that the province declares Foot-and-Mouth disease a disaster.
Premier Thami Ntuli says such a declaration will enable the provincial government to redirect resources.
Ntuli says as epicentre of the disease in the country the outbreak has already had a devastating socio-economic and economic impact.
Among the provincial herd of 2.4 million cattle in the provincial herd, there are currently 207 outbreaks and 187 unresolved cases across all districts.
Ntuli says they expect the first doses out of a nationally procured vaccine of 1.5 million doses to reach the province by next week or the week after at the latest.
A mass vaccination programme will then begin in earnest with the aim of vaccinating the provincial herd within 6 months.
#KZN #premier, Thami Ntuli, says province will apply for declaration of disaster here on foot and mouth outbreak thst has spread to all districts. This will enable government to redirect funds to deal with the devastating outbreak #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/Z2c7Q0f18E
— Dries Liebenberg (@DriesLiebenberg) February 6, 2026
