Government

Covid-19 surge to hit Gauteng, KZN and the Eastern Cape: report

Staff Writer

 ·7 Jun 2020

Medical experts warn that Covid-19 cases are expected to spike in South Africa’s most populous provinces in the coming weeks, following record daily increases in recent days.

Speaking to the City Press, professor of vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Shabir Madhi said that the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and the Western Cape should brace for a surge of new cases  – particularly the Eastern Cape.

He said that the province will likely reach the Western Cape’s level of spread – in terms of a surge in cases – in two weeks’ time, while Gauteng will reach that level in four weeks.

The Western Cape, which has exhibited an alarming pattern in spread over the last two months, will be three times worse than it currently is, professor Madhi said.

While the professor did not give any specific prediction for KwaZulu-Natal, health MEC in province, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu has given similar warnings about expecting a surge in cases in the province.

The province has planned ahead for this, hiring 8,000 new health workers, and finding areas to use as field hospitals and quarantine zones.

South Africa this week recorded its biggest-ever jump in daily cases, with a record 3,267 cases reported on 4 June. Since then, the country has seen over 2,000 daily increases in infections.

On Saturday (6 June), minister of health Dr Zweli Mkhize announced that South Africa now has 45,973 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

This is up by 2,539 from the 43,434 infections on Friday, when the country reported 2,642 new cases.

The minister announced 44 new deaths, taking the total up to 952, while recoveries increased to 24,258, which translates to a recovery rate of  52.8%.#

The Western Cape accounts for 66% of all Covid-19 cases, and 729 of 952 total deaths.

📊 COVID-19 Dashboard update for the Western Cape:

🔹 Total confirmed cases – 29 136
🔹 Total recoveries – 17 366
🔹 Total tests done – 193 035

View the dashboard ➡️ https://t.co/AgbOmel0FP. For a comprehensive daily update, see Premier Alan Winde’s statement later today. pic.twitter.com/5V1C7tCDwn

— Western Cape Gov (@WesternCapeGov) June 6, 2020

The number of infections is steadily rising in-line with the number of tests being conducted, however the country is still facing a testing backlog of over 80,000 tests, which is further complicating matters.

Professor Madhi said that the numbers announced by the Department of Health reflects the data coming from the laboratories, rather than the tests conducted on any given day. He said the increase in positive results could be as a result of the backlog being cleared, instead of being a current trend of infection.

Professor Adrien Puren, from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases echoed this, said that the numbers likely reflect infections from tests taken two weeks ago.

We’re at war

President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the country is fighting a life-and-death war against the coronavirus, and that more needs to be done to emerge victorious.

The president visited the Western Cape, the hardest-hit province in the country, to assess its readiness to deal with the mounting infections.

He spoke in particular about changing habits and ensuring there were enough health professional available to treat those who became ill as a result of the virus.

“We’re at war. We’re fighting a life and death war and staffing challenges must be solved,” the president said.

“We must headhunt and find all those staff members that we need to bring in and the cost is not an issue here, but saving lives is the issue,” he said.

Ramaphosa said that citizens needed to heed the interventions being put in place in areas of high infection – social distancing, and hygiene levels needed to improve; and food needed to be given to the poor without corruption being involved.

And as testing continues, the country needs to be ‘all hands on deck’ for the long haul of fighting the virus.

“We will all keep our hands on deck… This is a long war. It will probably take us a year and a half, probably two, dealing with Covid-19. We mustn’t lose the stamina,” the president said.

Read: 45,973 confirmed coronavirus cases in South Africa as deaths jump to 952