Photo: @alanwinde / Twitter
Western Cape officially entering third wave warn Winde and Cloete
The Western Cape has experienced a rapid increase in new COVID-19 cases over the last 10 days. Health officials warned that the province is entering the third wave, on Thursday.
Photo: @alanwinde / Twitter
The Western Cape is officially facing its third wave of COVID-19 infections, Premier Alan Winde and Dr Keith Cloete – the provincial head of health – announced on Thursday, 10 June, at the weekly digital conference.
Winde said that while has not technically entered the third wave, there has been a rapid increase of more than 30% in the cases recorded week on week.
WESTERN CAPE THIRD WAVE
Dr Keith Cloete said more than 1000 people in the Western Cape were hospitalised because of COVID-19 and all districts are witnessing a marked increase in daily infections, except for Khayelitsha.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has not sounded the official third wave alarm, yet. However, according to Cloete, the province’s statistics mean that such an announcement is imminent.
The Western Cape now has 5802 active cases, which is an increase of 1400 on the last week – Cloete said this is the reason that the provincial government is declaring that they are entering the third wave. “The data is now telling us very clearly that we are on an accelerated curve towards the mark of a third wave and it is a matter of time before we’re certified as such,” said Cloete.
On Wednesday, South Africa added 8881 new COVID-19 infections – Gauteng was the hardest hit province, accounting for 5111 cases. The Western Cape followed with 783 cases.
Cloete said the province was adding an average of 430 new cases daily, while hospital admissions are up to 52 per day and there are around five to six deaths daily.
“This is very concerning. We need to ensure that everybody in this province continues to keep flattening the curve,” said Winde
“We have already been in two waves before this and we know what to do. We need to make sure we continue with social distance, we continue wearing our masks and sanitising hands.”
On Thursday, the Premier also announced that the provincial government intends to convert the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) into a mass vaccination site that is capable of processing 4000 jabs daily.
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