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Mkhize has sounded the alarm about Gauteng’s coronavirus infection rate – these suburbs are most affected

Staff Writer

 ·29 Jun 2020

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has warned that Gauteng will soon become the coronavirus epicentre of South Africa.

In a statement on Sunday evening (28 June), Mkhize said that the entire country is likely to see an increase in cases, but it will be the country’s economic hubs which will be hardest hit.

“We are seeing a rapid rise in the cumulative number of positive Covid-19 cases indicating that, as we had expected, we are approaching a surge during the latter winter months of July and August,”  he said.

“It is anticipated that while every province will, unfortunately witness an increase in their numbers, areas where there is high economic activity will experience an exponential rise –  beginning with Gauteng and Western Cape and followed by Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.”

He added that in coming days, Gauteng will emerge as the province with the highest Covid-19 numbers. Mkhize said that the factors contributing to this trend are:

• Inward migration;
• The large population (especially in metros like Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane);
• Increased congregating which spurs cluster outbreaks;
• The level to which people are able to adapt to new behaviours such as social distancing and the wearing of masks.

“When the national lockdown was eased to level three, there was a large inward movement of people as economic activities resumed,” he said.

“The surge that has been witnessed in the past two weeks has developed due to seeding of infections carried in by members of the community as they moved back into the workplace.

“It was therefore inevitable that there would be cluster outbreaks as infections spilled over from communities into places of congregation such as mines, factories, taxis and busses.”

Hotspots 

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Gauteng as at 27 June sits at 34,285, with 8,580 recoveries and 166 deaths.

The province’s Department of Health says it has seen an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases across its hospitals over the last 14 days which has resulted in high demand for oxygen and ventilators.

It cautioned that as more cases are reported, the number of admissions and bed occupancy rate for critical patients has increased which put more pressure on ventilators, oxygen points and oxygen supplies.

Looking at the data from a district level, the City of Johannesburg has reported the most cases (16,712 cases), followed by Ekurhuleni (7,196) and Tshwane (5,381).

The below table details the cases per district in more detail.

Johannesburg

Tshwane

Ekurhuleni

West Rand

Sedibeng

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