Premier Alan Winde on Coronavirus COVID-19 cases and vaccines

As of 1pm on 6 May 2021, the Western Cape has 1996 active Covid-19 infections, with a total of 287 820 people having been infected with Covid-19 to date and 285 640 recoveries. A total of 65 666 vaccines received to date as part of the Sisonke trial have been administered by 5pm on 5 May 2021.

The Western Cape has recorded 7 additional deaths since our last daily update on Wednesday, 5 May, bringing the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in the province to 11 637. We send our condolences to their loved ones at this time.

Please note that due to a technical issue, we are not able to include the maps in today’s update. You may visit the dashboard should you wish to view data at a subdistrict level.
 
Additional data is available on the Western Cape Covid-19 data dashboard which also features active cases per sub-district, active cases per 100 000 and 7-day moving averages. Access the data dashboard here: https://coronavirus.westerncape.gov.za/covid-19-dashboard
 
“Covid-19 infections remain stable, but residents are urged to be cautious”
 
During my weekly digital press conference today, an update was provided on the health platform, the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and on our public facing Covid-19 dashboard. We also launched our “Let’s Do This” campaign aimed at encouraging vaccine registration.
 
While the number of Covid-19 cases remains stable, there has been a 5% increase in positive tests. This increase is largely seen in private sector, among residents in more affluent suburbs. We must continue to keep our guard up and take every precaution to stop the spread of Covid-19.
 
As with all four variants of concern, our scientists are closely monitoring variant B.1.617 (the dominant variant in India), and the Department of Health will respond appropriately to contain it. At this stage, the variant has not been found in South Africa.
 
Overall, our provincial Department remains on high-alert and will continue to monitor for outbreaks.
 
In the Cape Metro:

• We expected decreased case numbers in the last week due to reduced testing with the public holiday. The increasing trend in cases especially from private sector tests in Northern, Eastern, Western and possibly Southern (until a few days ago) is a concern.
• We continue to be vigilant, and track cases and hospitalisations carefully in each area, for any sign of sustained increases.
   
• In the Rural Districts:
• Overall, cases numbers in Rural areas are essentially unchanged.
• There is a wide variation across the districts, but the absolute numbers involved are very small, particularly in Central Karoo.
• Most districts are still showing a decrease in cases, except for Garden Route and a small increase in absolute numbers in Central Karoo.

Insofar as our health platform is concerned, there are:

1. Currently 760 Covid-19 patients in our acute hospitals (425 in public hospitals and 335 in private hospitals). This excludes PUIs and cases in specialised hospital settings.
2. The Metro hospitals have an average occupancy rate of 92%; George drainage area hospitals at 65%; Paarl drainage area hospitals at 70% and Worcester drainage area hospitals at 76%.
3. Covid-19 and PUI cases currently make up only 5% of all available acute general hospital capacity in both Metro and Rural Regional Hospital drainage areas.
4. Covid-19 inter-mediate care: the Brackengate Hospital of Hope currently has 14 patients (3 345 cumulative patients), Freesia and Ward 99 has 0 patients, Mitchell Plain Hospital of Hope has 0 patients and Sonstraal currently has 1 patient.  
5. The Metro mass fatality centre has capacity for 240 bodies; currently 1 decedent (cumulative total of 1402 bodies) admitted. The overall capacity has been successfully managed across the province.