Western Cape prepares for infections to hit 80 000

SA’s new Covid-19 epicentre increases hospital bed numbers ahead of expected spike and accelerates food provision for hungry residents

The Western Cape surpassed Gauteng as the epicentre of the Covid-19 coronavirus in the past week, but Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has put a positive spin on this, saying it reflects the aggressive testing strategy put in place by the province.

By Friday, the Western Cape had 2 371 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 657 recoveries, and has tested a total of 35 867 people so far.

There are 96 people still in hospital, and 46 have died from the virus in the province.

Winde has attributed the peaking numbers to the high volume of testing the province has done.

“We knew upfront that we needed to do a lot of testing and we are pushing the testing hard. We are also doing the tracking and tracing quite aggressively. We are testing more than other places,” he said.

The method that has been used by the Western Cape provincial government involves tracing and testing any individuals who have had contact with those who have tested positive for the virus.

“We pick up one case – it may be in a retail store or police station or processing plant – and we will go and test every single person and then we will test the people who were in contact with that person,” he explained.

Winde said that, although the Western Cape was home to 10% of the country’s population, 15% of the total amount of testing had been done in the province.

Paired with the accelerated testing system are plans to create quarantine and intensive care unit (ICU) spaces to plan for the expected peak.

“We have a long way to go and it is still early days, and you are going to see thousands more infections happening,” he said.

Health experts and specialists have predicted that at least 80 000 people in the province are expected to contract the virus between the end of July and the end of August.

The Western Cape government has prepared 1 500 rooms in hospitals, hotels and resorts across the province to ensure that people in dense areas such as Khayelitsha are accommodated once the numbers start peaking.

“For instance, if you are living in the back yard of someone’s house or you have many people in your home, you cannot test positive and risk infecting others. We then take you out of your home,” he said.

In addition, the province is in the process of building extra hospital bed space, and 18 triage and testing areas, which are expected to be completed this month.

“Earlier this week, the Western Cape cabinet agreed to use the Cape Town International Convention Centre facilities as a temporary Covid-19 hospital, creating the capacity for us to care for an additional 800 people. This is supposed to make up for the shortage of beds because, otherwise, we would not be able cater to everyone when the virus hits its peak.

“We are 1 000 beds short for that peak and we are 750 ICU beds short. That is why it is critical to not allow the peak to get that high. This is how people in other parts of the world die,” he said.

From the Cuban doctors who were employed to assist South Africa in the fight against the virus, 26 will be deployed to the Western Cape, and Winde believes this will be a good addition to the 14 000-strong front line medical staff. The province has managed to mobilise 1 100 medical volunteers for when it reaches peak infections.

Creating a food programme that ensures that the country is able to feed its people is also high on the province’s agenda. The premier said he was concerned about the 1.6 million grant recipients who had to be catered for and the so-called missing middle who might be jobless during the lockdown, as well as small business owners.

The province has had to expand the size of its nutrition team call centre after being inundated with calls from people enquiring about food parcels.

“Our call centre could not deal with the calls, so we brought in another 200 operators. We were dealing with 14 500 calls per day,” the premier said.

Winde also said they would be working with 600 NGOs, four of which are funded by the provincial government.

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize. Picture: GCIS

In the meantime, the province is in the process of determining which areas will be kept at lockdown level 5.

This entails the premier making a submission to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize about the hot spots, and a decision will be made thereafter.

“We have some parts of our province that have not had one case, so it does not make sense to tell them to stay at level 5. We have hot spot areas we are concerned about and there are a few regions in the City of Cape Town that we are saying we should not keep at a higher level, such as one or two areas in the Cape Winelands,” Winde said.

Last week saw the National Command Centre make a U-turn in its decision to allow the sale of cigarettes.

Although he claims to be trying to “steer away from the cigarette debate”, Winde explained that banning tobacco products did not make any difference in slowing the infection rate.

“People are getting their cigarettes anyway; they are getting them on the black market. Did it really slow down the spread of Covid-19? I do not think so,” he said.

The Western Cape government’s latest mission is to see a number of other industries, including the film industry, reopen.

Queenin Masaubi Political journalist | City Press

+27 11 713 9001 Queenin.Masuabi@citypress.co.za Media Park, 69 Kingsway Road, Auckland Park

Rise above the clutter | Choose your news | City Press in your inbox

City Press is an agenda-setting South African news brand that publishes across platforms. Its flagship print edition is distributed on a Sunday.