Seven of the 782 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in Gauteng are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku revealed this during the Thursday afternoon’s media briefing by the Gauteng Command Council in Ormonde, south of Johannesburg.
The province says more than 26 000 people have been screened for symptoms in the last week. Four hundred and 40 of them were tested for COVID-19.
“We’ve been lucky that most of our patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 have not required hospitalisation. Currently in the public sector, we’re sitting with two patients who are in ICU in hospital and they’re improving in terms of their status. In the private sector, we’ve got five in ICU. When you talk about hospitalisation, these are the patients that we’re looking after. The majority of the patients are at home or they’re in isolation wards,” says Masuku.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura earlier said Johannesburg had the highest number of COVID-19 cases with 440 of the 782 in the province.
South Africa currently has 1 845 confirmed cases, with 18 deaths.
Makhura said the focus now is on screening, so they can identify people who need to be tested. He said the province has improved on tracing the people who have been in contact with those that have tested positive, with a 90% success rate.
#COVID19 | UPDATE BY GAUTENG PROVINCIAL COMMAND COUNCIL ON MEASURES TO COMBAT THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 #GAUTENGCOVID19 #COVID19SA pic.twitter.com/sKhtxiqxAu
— GautengGov (@GautengProvince) April 9, 2020
In the video below, Makhura says the focus is on screening to identify people who need to be tested:
