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The provincial Health Department said there had been a 17% increase in deaths in the last week.
Snorkel masks protect Tygerberg Hospital healthcare personnel during the Covid-19 pandemic. Image: Government of the Western Cape.
CAPE TOWN – Forty-nine more people have died of COVID-19 in the Western Cape, bringing the total number of deaths in the province to 5,552.
The provincial Health Department said there had been a 17% increase in deaths in the last week.
The province also has more than 34,600 active cases.
Head of Health, Dr. Keith Cloete: “There is a new dominant lineage, it is a new variant, and we also did a sample at Cape Flats and now we can say that this variant has gone faster than the other variant and that to some extent , explains what happened on the Garden Route and what is happening in the rest of the Western Cape. “
Cloete said they were starting to use antigen tests in hospitals as well.
“The antigen test, the one used at the airport, gives you a result in an hour. If we start using it in hospitals, it helps us distinguish someone to confirm their diagnosis and we are reviewing the next couple of days , within the next week, to achieve this in each of our hospitals, working with the National System of Health Laboratories “.
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