Calls to review COVID regulations after SA registered 14,046 new cases

12/24/2020 Africa, Health



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Over the past 24 hours, South Africa reported a staggering 26% increase in confirmed cases; That equates to more than 14,000 new cases.

A row of beds in the CTICC COVID-19 field hospital. Image: Premier Alan Winde / Twitter

JOHANNESBURG / CAPE TOWN – Shocking numbers of new COVID-19 infections are prompting the health department to request a review of lockdown regulations.

Over the past 24 hours, South Africa reported a staggering 26% increase in confirmed cases; That equates to more than 14,000 new cases.

South Africa’s death toll also continues to rise with 411 new deaths recorded.

The Health Department is extremely concerned about the latest figures.

The new variant identified last week appears to confirm initial assumptions that it spreads much more quickly.
The government said that South Africa would pass the first peak of the first wave in the coming days and that the second national peak is still some way off.

All provinces except the Eastern Cape have reported increases in COVID-19 cases; KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, and Gauteng account for 81% of recent infections.

The department said it was working to identify hot spots in these provinces and make recommendations based on these findings.

Once again, citizens are urged to take all extreme precautions when celebrating the holiday season and are always urged to comply with regulations.

At the same time, health workers are the most affected by the second wave.

And the South African Medical Association (SAMA) warns that access to proper medical care and supplies is becoming increasingly difficult.

An investigation by the Public Protector at 17 public health facilities recently revealed a shortage of personal protective equipment.

SAMA President Angelique Coetzee said it was making life incredibly difficult for frontline workers.

“If you are a doctor and you don’t have the correct or sufficient PPE to wear, and you have to choose between two patients lying in front of you, they both need oxygen. One is a young man with his whole life ahead of him and the other is an old man who probably takes care of his family. How do you make a choice? “

Employees in the healthcare sector are also speaking out on the sheer exhaustion of working hard for months and now having to face a second wave, which is far worse than the first.

It is particularly bad in the Western Cape; the province with the highest number of active cases where the second peak is expected to reach only in the first week of January.

“We are always at work, whether we are here or not. You know that at the end of the year you are so used to relaxing and you can relax, none of us were able to do that. It’s stressful on us, our bodies and our families, ”said Dr. Tatum Aronson at the Freesia Pavilion in Mitchells Plain; she is one of many doctors working at facilities in Cape Town that are overrun.

Aronson worked through the entire first wave … tackling the first peak at the CTICC field hospital before being transferred to this facility in August.

After working for several months in a row, the long hours start to take their toll.

“The patients appear to be sicker this time, and this is extremely concerning. It’s very heartbreaking and terrifying to see young people struggling to breathe, it really brings home the reality of what the disease is doing in our community.

The ward where he now works was converted to support Mitchells Plain District Hospital, which is now operating at 115% capacity.

The emergency center of this hospital receives an admission of 150 patients a day, 80% of them are related to COVID.

Another COVID facility at the facility is expected to come online next week. The 200-bed facility is expected to carry part of the load.

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