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The Gauteng Health Department says the Nasrec field hospital will remain open until January 2021, despite only five patients being admitted to the facility in October.
The purpose of the Nasrec field hospital was to help ease the burden on Covid-19 patients in Johannesburg clinics and hospitals. The facility was established at a cost of R350 million.
Jacob Mamabolo, on duty for the Gauteng Health MEC, said the threat of Covid-19 infections has not been reduced enough to warrant a move to shut down the site.
“The threat of the second wave of infections still remains according to the World Health Organization,” Mamabolo said.
“Nasrec will only close after January 2021, which is a key milestone after the holiday season. The department will closely monitor the holiday season period in regards to Covid-19 infections. “
The department said five patients have been admitted so far in October, while 21 patients were treated at the facility in September.
MEDIA STATEMENT || GAUTENG HEALTH CLOSES THREE QUARANTINE / ISOALTION SITES WITH NASREC FIELD HOSPITAL TO REMAIN OPEN UNTIL JANUARY 2021. # GautengCOVID19 pic.twitter.com/TgyxTuBtXg
– Gauteng Health (@GautengHealth) October 20, 2020
Gauteng Democratic Alliance Health MEC Jack Bloom said the cost to keep the field hospital open until January 31 next year could be as high as 256 million rand.
Citing Mamabolo, Bloom said that at the end of August 58.1 million rand had been paid for the 500-bed isolation and quarantine facility, and 69.3 million rand for the 1,000-bed hospital facility.
“This is really exorbitant as only 604 people were quarantined or isolated, and only 96 patients were treated there during this period. It amounts to R96,000 paid for each person in quarantine / isolated, and R720,000 for each patient treated in the field hospital, ”he said.
The department is paying for the 1,000-bed installation to ensure there is capacity for a possible second wave of infections or a surge during the December holiday period. The total projected cost was originally R350 million, but the projection is now between R157 million and R256 million for all costs, including assets to be recovered, said the DA leader.
“This is a hugely wasteful expense. There were clear signs after initial alarmist projections that the Covid-19 epidemic would peak in July rather than August / September as originally expected.
“There was no scenario that infections would increase in January next year, however, on August 1 a six-month contract for 1,000 beds was signed with the Joburg Expo Center, which Nasrec runs.”
A field hospital is meant to be set up and retired in a few weeks to cope with the peak of an epidemic, rather than staying open for an extended period at great cost, Bloom said.
Second wave
Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said earlier this week that South Africa has reported fewer coronavirus cases than expected in its move to a level 1 lockdown, but warns that the country could still face a second increase in the cases.
Mkhize, who contracted the virus and is in isolation, said South Africa “is likely” to follow other countries in experiencing a second wave. He said other countries, which had contained their respective infection rates, were facing a second increase after opening up for travel.
He cited the United States, which after a plateau in cases, saw a second wave that surpassed the first reported wave.
This led South Africa to realize that there is no reason why we should free ourselves from a second wave, Mkhize said.
“The development of the pandemic is not the same in all countries. One of the problems we’ve been struggling with is ‘what made (South Africa) get the wave that it actually had?’ “, He said.
He said previous government predictions and models showed a much higher rate of expected cases and deaths for the country than experienced.
“We cannot explain why we did not reach those numbers. But what we’ve been able to see is that some of the very limited studies have indicated that what we have as reported positive cases is less than the numbers we have on the ground. “
Infections in South Africa
On Tuesday night, Dr. Mkhize reported 1,058 new cases of Covid-19.
The cumulative number of Covid-19 cases detected is now 706,304, and in the last 24 hours, 15,366 Covid-19 tests were performed.
Meanwhile, 164 additional Covid-19-related deaths were reported, bringing the tally to 18,656.
Of the latest deaths, 52 were from Gauteng, 46 from the Eastern Cape and 41 from the Free State.
Nine deaths are from KwaZulu-Natal, eight from the Western Cape, five from Limpopo, two from the Northern Cape and one from Mpumalanga.
According to the WHO, the African region has reported an increase in both cases and deaths in the past seven days, with an 11% increase in new cases and an 8% increase in new deaths.
This pattern is a boost from South Africa and Ethiopia, and Kenya and Botswana also reported a notable increase in infections.
South Africa has accounted for about 70% of deaths on the continent in the last week, he said.
“The high number of deaths that are reported is attributed in part to a mortality audit and many of these deaths are reported retrospectively,” the organization said.
India, the United States of America, France, Brazil and the United Kingdom continue to report the highest number of cases, the WHO said.
Read: Possibility of a second wave of coronavirus in South Africa: Mkhize
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