{"id":199907,"date":"2021-08-27T11:23:10","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T09:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/wc-n-cape-covid-19-positivity-rates-a-concern\/"},"modified":"2021-08-27T11:23:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T09:23:10","slug":"wc-n-cape-covid-19-positivity-rates-a-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wc-n-cape-covid-19-positivity-rates-a-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"WC, N Cape COVID-19 positivity rates a concern"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Western Cape and Northern Cape have recorded COVID-19 positivity rates above the national average.<\/p>\n

This is according to Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, who briefed the nation regarding the virus and government\u2019s vaccination rollout plans.<\/p>\n

Phaahla said the country\u2019s overall COVID-19 positivity rate stands at about 19%, with these two provinces showing an average positivity rate that is concerning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Western Cape has an average of 27% positivity rate daily. As of [Thursday], the Northern Cape had 30%. What is worrying is that the Northern Cape\u2019s numbers have remained high relative to its population and that\u2019s why its positivity has remained high over a prolonged period.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur epidemiologists and analysts often say the Northern Cape never came out of the second wave, it came straight into the third wave,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n

He said an increase in positive cases among the youth in those provinces also raised concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is worrying is that in both provinces, there have been more younger people between the ages of 10 and 19, who have been testing positive. While some cluster [outbreaks] can be attributed to the opening of schools, there have also been indications that social activities have also had a role to play, such as young people engaging in parties without any precautions,\u201d Phaahla said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Minister reported reductions in new COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions throughout the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last seven days, there has been a 2.2% decrease in new cases, which is a very slow reduction. Admission to hospitals reduced by 0.7% to 13 600 yesterday – small but welcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last seven days, hospitalisation reduced by 3.3%. New cases reduced by 2.2% – again, small but welcome, even though there were increases in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape and Free State over the last seven days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Youth vaccine uptake<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Despite this, the Minister said the uptake of the vaccine by South Africans between the ages of 18 and 34 is showing great promise, with at least 460 173 people in that cohort being vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeven days ago, we opened up for registration and vaccination of everybody over 18 years, meaning the 18 – 34 [could get vaccinated]. The response of our young people, who are the future of our country, has been overwhelming. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge our young people to continue to come forward, and to also encourage their parents, older friends and relatives to also come forward because we still have a major gap to cover, especially the over 50 and the 35 plus [population group],\u201d Phaahla said. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Western Cape and Northern Cape have recorded COVID-19 positivity rates above the national average. This is according to Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, who briefed the nation regarding the virus and government\u2019s vaccination rollout plans. Phaahla said the country\u2019s overall COVID-19 positivity rate stands at about 19%, with these two provinces showing an average […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":199908,"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-199907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-sanews","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/wc-n-cape-covid-19-positivity-rates-a-concern.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199907","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=199907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}