Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has called for caution as thousands of people prepare to return to work on Monday when Level 3 of the lockdown comes into effect.
He’s appealed to employers and employees to adhere to the strict safety regulations.
The Western Cape has more than 19 000 COVID-19 cases, the highest in the country and 472 fatalities.
Winde says, “We will be moving to alert Level 3 so many more businesses will be opening on Monday and again this is a new normal that we are going back to.”
“We have to make sure that we all change our behaviour we know what the rules are, we must stick to them – mask, social distancing, hand sanitizers, soap and hygiene.”
He adds: “We have to make sure that we minimise the spread because what we don’t want to do is move the province back to any high lockdown levels to slow this virus.”
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Western Cape COVID-19 deaths estimated to reach 9 300
Scenario planning for the COVID-19 pandemic in the Western Cape forecasts that an estimated 9 300 people could die of the virus.
According to the National COVID-19 Modelling Consortium, the peak of COVID-19 infections in the province is expected at the end of June or the beginning of July.
Director of the Modeling and Simulation Hub, Africa, Dr Sheetal Silal, says the province needs about 1 500 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds.
“And this can be broken down between the non-ICU bed requirements and ICU bed requirements off approximately 6 300 non-ICU beds and 1500 ICU beds, leading to the projected total of 7 800. In terms of the mortality expected due to the epidemic, the projected fatalities are approximately 9 300 subject to an uncertainty range which can be seen on the plots.”
In the video below, smaller public hospitals in the Western Cape prepare for COVID-19 admissions:
COVID-19 testing backlog
Earlier this week, Winde expressed concern over a huge backlog in the processing of tests for COVID-19 in the province, which affects the rate at which results can be released.
According to Winde, there’s been a 400% increase in the number of tests conducted in the province since the end of April. He further said the province has a backlog of almost 18 000 tests, which needs to be processed.
“We still have an issue with the backlog in our tests which is very difficult because testing is your ability to measure and gives your ability to manage. We have already engaged and written to the President and engaged with the Minister of Health on this issue. Our backlog now stands at 18 000 and we really need to find a solution to this. If you cannot measure, you cannot manage.”
