Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has attributed a rise in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the province to an aggressive tracking and tracing system.
This after the Western Cape’s total number of cases increased to 1870, with Cape Town accounting for 1500.
South Africa has 4996 confirmed coronavirus cases with the death toll standing at 93.
INFOGRAPHIC | 185 497 tests of the new coronavirus have been conducted in South Africa. A total of 4996 confirmed cases and 93 deaths have been recorded as at 28 April 2020. #SABCNEWS #COVID19SouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/jukaSw2Hul
— SABC News (@SABCNews) April 28, 2020
There are concerns that outbreaks among essential services workers have contributed towards the Western Cape, overtaking Gauteng as the epicentre of South Africa’s COVID-19 pandemic.
Winde says they will continue in their aggressive tracking system to trace those who have come into contact with people confirmed to have the virus.
“I personally think it is because we very aggressively go out and trace once we have tested the positive. I know one factory where one case had us track and trace and we had 90 cases. In a retail facility, one case turned into 40 cases. At the moment, in Witzenberg linked to the agricultural sector, we have 100 cases. We very aggressively go out there and track and trace which lifts our positive numbers,” says Winde.
Witzenberg District
The Witzenberg District has been identified as one of the hotspots of the coronavirus in the province.
Provincial health authorities are expecting numbers to increase dramatically in the coming days as they intensify testing.
Provincial Health Minister Nomafrench Mbombo visited the Witzenberg Municipality on Tuesday to outline tracing and tracking measures:
In the tweet below, the Western Cape government announces community testing and screening sites for April 29:
?️ Coronavirus COMMUNITY SCREENING & TESTING sites for today, 29 April 2020.⬇️
▶️ Get official news and updates from our website: https://t.co/JUIMsosqG5. #StopTheSpread pic.twitter.com/MWESA0pVWF
— Western Cape Gov (@WesternCapeGov) April 29, 2020