cticc cape town latest news in South Africa

Cape Town – 20200601 – South African Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, visits the Covid -19 field hospital in the Cape Town International Convention Centre. His visit was part of a nationwide tour to assess the state of readiness of Provinces to cope with the expected rise in Covid-19 infections. The previous hard lockdown regulations were intended to slow down the spread of the disease sufficintly to buy time so that health infrastructure could be put in place. This field hospital is the largest of those in Cape Town.  It has 862 beds and all the necessary accompanying infrastructure and medical equipment. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams/Gallo Images

4000 jabs per day: CTICC to be turned into Cape Town’s first mass vaccination centre

The Western Cape government hopes to transform the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) into its first mass vaccination site within the next few weeks.

cticc cape town latest news in South Africa

Cape Town – 20200601 – South African Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, visits the Covid -19 field hospital in the Cape Town International Convention Centre. His visit was part of a nationwide tour to assess the state of readiness of Provinces to cope with the expected rise in Covid-19 infections. The previous hard lockdown regulations were intended to slow down the spread of the disease sufficintly to buy time so that health infrastructure could be put in place. This field hospital is the largest of those in Cape Town.  It has 862 beds and all the necessary accompanying infrastructure and medical equipment. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams/Gallo Images

The Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) will be used to fight the COVID-19 pandemic once again. Western Cape Premier Alan Winde announced that mass vaccinations will be carried out in the building within the next few weeks, on Thursday, 10 June.

CTICC TO BE A CENTRE OF HOPE IN THE WC

The Western Cape government and City of Cape have reached a joint agreement to turn the CTICC into a mass vaccination site. Earlier during the pandemic, the convention centre was transformed into an emergency hospital.

Winde said much of the legwork has been done and the funding for the transformation has been secured. All that’s left to do is sign the paperwork and the CTICC vaccination site will be up and running within the next three to four weeks.

“Just over one year ago, our teams worked quickly and efficiently to convert the CTICC into the Western Cape’s first major field hospital, our ‘Hospital of Hope’, and it became a place of healing for the thousands of residents who received life-saving treatment there,” said Winde.

The Premier added that he is working at full speed to turn the “world-class conferencing” venue into a vaccination site that will provide residents across the City of Cape Town with life-saving vaccinations. “It is our intention for it to be a Centre of Hope in our City and Province within a few weeks.”

The CTICC site is expected to see high volumes of vaccinations as part of both the City’s and provincial government’s inoculation drive. The transformation has been in the pipeline since March 2021, according to the City of Cape Town Executive Mayor, Dan Plato.

“These plans were shared with the provincial government who, after several engagements with the City, made the decision to utilise the CTICC in this regard,” said Plato.

The City hopes to complete the project before the end of June and the Western Cape government will be in control of managing the site. The site, however, will only be able to function at capacity once the required vaccine supplies arrive.

4000 VACCINATIONS PER DAY

Winde said at the CTICC mass vaccination site’s peak, it should be able to give more than 4000 people the jab per day. This will be done by up to 50 vaccination stations capable of administering 100 injections daily. “This will have a major impact on the pace of our vaccination programme, especially as we move to vaccinate residents under the age of 60.”

The CTICC first mass vaccination site in Cape Town but at least two more are expected to pop up across the city, to ensure that more residents have access to the facility.

“There are currently detailed plans in place for the opening of several more mass site in the Metro,” said Plato. “The City is excited to partner with the provincial government on these projects where we can so that we ensure that residents have better access to vaccines.”