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Dr. Keith Cloete, head of the Western Cape Health Department. (Nasief Manie / Spotlight)
- Hospitalization in Cape Town is currently under pressure and the province expects it to increase.
- Front-line and health workers are also under stress.
- However, an overview of stability is reported on the Garden Route.
Hospitalization in Cape Town is under pressure, and the city is beginning to exceed the levels it had experienced in the first wave.
And it is expected to rise even more over the next two weeks, said the head of the Western Cape health department, Dr. Keith Cloete.
“That is the great message we bring you today: the platform in Cape Town is already under pressure [and] we hope it’s even more [pressurised]”he said in the provincial government’s weekly digicon on Tuesday.
“That is why we need a radical intervention to change something that can safeguard the health platform for both [the] public and private [sector] during the festive season in Cape Town. ”
Severe pressure
Western Cape Prime Minister Alan Winde echoed similar sentiments, saying that in addition to the system, frontline and healthcare workers were also experiencing stress.
“They’ve been at it for the last eight months and they’ve gotten us through the first wave. We are now in the second wave and once again those frontline workers are in the thick of things right now and what they need. What we do is much better than what we are doing right now, “he said.
“As citizens of this province, we must step up and play our role more than ever because the health system must be protected. We owe it to frontline workers,” he said.
READ | Mediclinic suspends elective surgeries in Western Cape after ‘dramatic’ increase in hospital admissions due to Covid-19
According to Winde, the total active infections in the Western Cape were currently 61% higher than the first peak.
“The largest single-day increase in cases at the first peak was 2 158 (June 29, 2020), but our most recent high was 4 508, 108% higher,” he said.
Additionally, 2,691 patients were currently in the hospital and 317 patients in the ICU – this was the highest number since Covid-19 arrived in the country.
“We are currently using 32.4 tons of oxygen per day, five tons more than what we use per day during the peak of the first wave. We are using 58.5% of the daily available oxygen capacity,” he said.
Although there was a recent Covid-19 spike on Garden Route, Winde noted that the infection and hospitalization rate in the district was finally dropping.
A presentation by Cloete also painted an overview of stability on the Garden Route.
“We can say with certainty that we are seeing a decrease in active cases on the Garden Route, due to a decrease in the three largest municipalities: Bitou, George and Knysna.
‘A fall in the cases that are seen’
“In those three areas, there is evidence that cases are declining and evidence that hospitalization is declining,” he said.
As of Monday, December 21, the Garden Route District had a total of 24,380 cases, with 18,890 recoveries.
The district was one of the areas subject to restrictions, such as beach closures, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa ahead of the holiday season.
READ ALSO | Covid-19: these are the beaches that will be closed during the festive season
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and a team of scientists announced on Friday the discovery of a new variant of Covid-19 that appeared to be rapidly spreading across the country. Although the mutation was cause for concern, Mkhize told the nation not to panic.
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