Phaahla, who is set fo be flanked by Premier Sisi Ntombela and Health MEC Montseng Tsiu, will visit certain vaccination sites. His visit comes a few days after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the National Government will shift its focus to the provinces of the Free State and Northern Cape, owing to high numbers of Covid-19 infections. 

Ramaphosa on Sunday night said the two provinces had high numbers of infections, despite the numbers of the infections declining countrywide. Phaahla is set to visit the Universitas Hospital and Hoffman Square vaccination sites on Friday morning.

Meanwhile, the Free State has 16 954 active cases, 6 515 deaths, whilst the Northern Cape has a total of 6 681 active cases and 2 063 deaths.

During his address on Sunday night, Ramaphosa told the nation that the Free State and Northern Cape are the two provinces that stand out, where the number of infections as a proportion of the population has remained relatively high for several months.

"We are therefore focusing our efforts on these provinces to understand what is driving these infections and what measures we need to take to bring [the numbers] down," Ramaphosa announced.

Ramaphosa's statement came after several schools in these two provinces were forced to shut their doors after pupils and staff tested positive in their numbers.

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