The Western Cape has expressed deep concern about the growing infection rate and has since confirmed that it is dealing with a resurgence. <\/p>\n
This comes after the province reported a 52.1% jump in new cases over the last week alone, after recording a more than 20% increase week-on-week.<\/p>\n
\u201cA resurgence is when the number of active cases increases, week-on-week, by more than 20%. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is also now established community transmission of the virus again in this province, which means that it is spreading within communities at a faster rate,\u201d the Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, explained.<\/p>\n
According to Winde, the resurgence is mostly sparked by two districts, the Garden Route and the Cape metro.<\/p>\n
He said the surge continues to gain momentum, especially in the Garden Route after issuing a hotspot alert last week.<\/p>\n
There are now more active cases in the George and Knysna sub-districts since the outbreak. <\/p>\n
Winde noted that the City of Cape Town is also following a similar trajectory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are therefore also issuing a hotspot alert for the metro,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
However, he highlighted that the spike in the City of Cape Town is recorded in every sub-district and not confined to one area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the growth in cases has mainly been driven by these two districts, we are also worried about the Cape Winelands, which is starting to record a concerning number of new cases,\u201d said Winde.<\/p>\n
The province is closely monitoring the Overberg, Central Karoo and West Coast districts due to their proximity to the hotspots.<\/p>\n
According to the province\u2019s latest data, there are currently 7 241 active infections, with a total of 126 362 confirmed cases and 114 548 recoveries.<\/p>\n
Health system under pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n Winde said the established COVID-19 resurgence is reflected in the proportion of positive tests, which has now grown to 16%.<\/p>\n \u201cMy biggest concern is for our health platform, which is under growing pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n The biggest concern, according to Winde, is hospitalisations, which reached 904 on Wednesday, after recording a low of under 500 in September.<\/p>\n The Premier said 431 patients are receiving treatment in public hospitals, while 473 are in private hospitals.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last 24-hour reporting period alone, the number of people being hospitalised for COVID-19 increased by a staggering 54 people.\u201d<\/p>\n The Brackengate Hospital of Hope is now treating 109 patients after having a few patients in September.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, since the start of November, COVID-19 hospitalisations across the province have increased by 63%.<\/p>\n \u201cThe private sector has increased by 94%, while the public sector has increased by 39%,\u201d said Winde.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, critical care admissions have risen by 75% since the start of November.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is particularly concerning, as an admission to a critical care unit is an indication of severe illness that might lead to death,\u201d said Winde.<\/p>\n Lockdown<\/strong><\/p>\n Winde called on everyone to prevent a hard lockdown, and to ensure that there are enough empty beds in hospitals for those who need them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must be under no illusion as to how serious the situation is, and how quickly it can deteriorate further.\u201d<\/p>\n The province said it has reintroduced key healthcare services to facilities, as it needs to provide comprehensive care to everyone who needs it, including non-COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n \u201cThis means our hospitals are already fuller than they were earlier this year during the first wave of hospitalisations,\u201d said Winde.<\/p>\n He said the province is trying to avoid “de-escalating” essential services because this will have a detrimental impact on people\u2019s health.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to save all lives, including those who don\u2019t have COVID-19.\u201d <\/p>\n He believes the situation can be under control through people\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe also cannot afford a lockdown again, as is being witnessed in many European countries right now. Our economy simply cannot afford it. A lockdown would kill jobs and cause our humanitarian disaster to worsen. This will also cost lives in the future,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n Keep safe Everyone needs to remain safe and protect each other by following all the non-pharmaceutical protocols, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single resident should assume that COVID-19 is everywhere they go and take all the necessary precautions at every point along their journey.\u201d<\/p>\n The Western Cape said it will drastically increase high visibility enforcement of the regulations to help slow down the spread of the virus through its Disaster Joint Operations Centre.<\/p>\n \u201cWe urge members of the public, businesses and other organisations to report violations of COVID-19 protocols immediately, so that our teams can take action immediately,\u201d said Winde. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Western Cape has expressed deep concern about the growing infection rate and has since confirmed that it is dealing with a resurgence. This comes after the province reported a 52.1% jump in new cases over the last week alone, after recording a more than 20% increase week-on-week. \u201cA resurgence is when the number of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-173327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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