Premier Alan Winde update on Coronavirus COVID-19 on 29 October

Update on the coronavirus by Premier Alan Winde

As of 1pm on 29 October, the Western Cape has 3149 active Covid-19 infections with a total of 115 701 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 108 201 recoveries.

Cape Metro Sub-districts:

Sub-districts:

Unallocated: 2168 (1995 recovered)

Data note: It is not always possible to check and verify that the address data supplied for each new recorded case is correct, within the time frames required to provide regular and timely updates. This means that in some instances, cases could be allocated to the wrong sub-districts. We are working with the sub-districts to clean and verify the data and where errors are picked up locally, cases will be re-allocated to the correct areas.

We have experienced a delay on the data feed for COVID-19 related deaths. The total number of COVID-19 related deaths as at yesterday was 4351.

The Recovery Deal:

Earlier today, I held my weekly digital press conference in which we provided an update on the Western Cape Government's COVID-19 response.

During this press conference I asked for a ‘recovery deal’ with the people of the Western Cape:

I promise that we will continue to work around the clock to ensure that our recovery plan delivers jobs, safety and dignity and wellbeing for the people of this province, and that we will continue to fight Covid-19 bushfires with intensity whenever they emerge.

In return, we ask for some help to prevent the further spread of the virus. This means that we must all behave responsibly to ensure that we do not have a ‘second wave’ of Covid-19 in the Western Cape.

We have fought so hard to ensure that lockdown restrictions are eased so that businesses could go back to work and that we could start the process of clawing back jobs. We will continue to fight for the economy and for jobs every single day.

But if further restrictions are imposed on us because of a major flare up of Covid-19, this will be fundamentally determinantal to our efforts to recover from this crisis.

It is therefore in all of our interests – be it individuals or businesses – to not let a new, major spike of infections take place in this province.

And it all it requires from each and every one of us is for a simple change in behaviour.

These include:

• Wearing a mask
• Regularly washing your hands
• Keeping a 1.5 m distance whenever out in public
• Sanitizing surfaces
• Avoiding touching your face, and
• Staying home if you are feeling ill, and getting advice on what to do next

We know that businesses need to trade, that people want to socialise and that many people are suffering from Covid-19 fatigue.

We therefore appeal to people to focus on avoiding three key things in addition to mask wearing and hand hygiene, when doing so.

These are the 3Cs:

• Crowed spaces
• Close contact (when you are not able to keep a 1.5m distance)
• Confined and enclosed spaces where there is poor ventilation.

In practical terms, this means that if you arrive at a shop, a restaurant, a bar or any venue and it doesn’t meet these 3Cs, you need to make the better choice, and go to one that does.

If you are standing in a queue in a supermarket, for a government service or you're queueing for a drink at a gathering, stand 1.5 metres away from any other person, and kindly ask those around you to do the same.

If you run a business or work in an office, ensure that it is well ventilated by opening doors or windows or choose to sit outside at restaurants. Reward those shops and restaurants that care about your safety and those around you, by visiting their stores.

People follow others example. If you go to a place, and everyone has their mask off, it is instinctual to do the same. So, lead by example. Keep your mask on and tell your friends and those around you to do the same too. We are all in this together.

These are simple things that still allow us to go to work safely each day, operate or support a business, and see our friends and families and socialize safely.

Health platform update:

We currently have 561 COVID patients in acute hospitals (323 public and 228 private) and a total of 102 patients in ICU or high care.

The Hospital of Hope at Brackengate remains operational and currently has 13 patients admitted. There are currently no COVID-19 patients admitted to Sonstraal hospital.

Our acute hospitals are reducing their COVID bed capacity and re-introducing normal clinical services. This is evident in fact that our bed occupancy in our metro hospitals currently stands at 80%, with just 5% of these being COVID-19 admissions.

Being able to provide a wide array of healthcare services in a safe manner is central to improving the dignity and wellbeing of the people of the Western Cape as we move forward.

Tracking and surveillance:

We continue to use our surveillance systems to find and zoom in on infection bushfires.

This has allowed us to pinpoint spikes in infections in recent weeks- first in the Southern and Western sub-districts, and now in George on the Garden Route. We believe that these spikes are related to a general relaxation when it comes to following safety and infection prevention protocols.

Our district management teams and the Department of Health has worked hard to isolate and contain these bushfires, and in the case of the Southern and Western cluster, our identification and intervention, has yielded results, and we are starting to see the number of new infections start to decline in these areas again.

By zooming in on the cases, we can also see a number of trends developing. The increase in the numbers of new cases are primarily driven by young people between the ages of 15 to 25. We have also seen an increase in the number of positive tests in the private sector, and private sector hospitalisations.

In addition to using testing data, we are also able to test wastewater at ten sites to determine where the virus is being shed the most, in the province. In particular, we have seen spikes in Athlone and in Scottsdene, which could be connected to their wastewater systems being linked to the Southern and the Western sub-districts.

This data gives us another level of surveillance which allows us to detect trends and to follow up with targeted testing should it be required. These tools are part of our arsenal which will help us to detect signs of resurgence or of a second wave.

The strongest defense we have against a resurgence or a second wave is however our own behaviour and I therefore call on all our residents to commit to becoming an active part of our recovery deal so that we can move forward safely in the Western Cape.