Third wave: Western Cape seeing rapid rise in hospitalisations

The Western Cape government is prepared for the Covid-19 third wave, with the province seeing a rapid increase in people requiring hospitalisation, says Premier Alan Winde.

This comes amid projections the Western Cape could reach similar levels of Covid-19 infections as Gauteng in the coming weeks.

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In a statement on Tuesday, Winde said the Western Cape government had identified trigger points to ensure its healthcare system could monitor risks in effort to respond adequately.

“We have enough resources to respond to the third wave and are prepared to rapidly scale up our healthcare response, where needed,” he said.

“I want to reassure residents that we have enough resources in place to respond to the increasing number of Covid-19 infections in the province. We are further able to scale up our response where needed.”

Increasing cases

Winde called on residents to be vigilant as the average number cases increase to 1,000 a day.

“I urge residents to be vigilant and adhere to the golden rules of hygiene. We are seeing a rapid increase in Covid-19 infections with an average of 1,000 new cases diagnosed each day over the past seven days.”

Winde said the province was seeing a 60% week-on-week increase in Covid-19 case numbers in all regions, excluding Khayelitsha – while 20% of Covid-19 tests were coming back positive.

“Overall test positivity is over 7% for over one week. More than 15% of hospitals have more than 10% of beds occupied by Covid-19 patients and a more than 50% increase in pre-Covid-19 hospital oxygen use.”

Hospital admissions

He further said the Western Cape was recording 80 hospital admissions a day on average and averaging 13 deaths a day.

Despite the admissions, the province had enough bed capacity to respond to the third wave, Winde said.

“We have enough bed capacity to respond to the increase in Covid-19 cases and assist those in need of intermediate care, high care or intensive care. Through previous investments during the pandemic, we can bring online additional bed capacity where needed.”

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The premier added that the province was also seeing a rapid increase in persons requiring hospitalisation.

“In the Western Cape, the total general bed use rate is at 85% and our Covid-19 bed use rate is at 17%. We are seeing a rapid increase in persons requiring hospitalisation.”

Vaccinations

Winde also gave an update on vaccinations following the temporary closure some of its vaccination sites last week due to the slow arrival of vaccines.

He said the Western Cape was ready to scale up the number of vaccine sites, with more doses expected to arrive this week.

“Last Thursday, 17 June, we received 49,140 vaccines, which will be used this week. This number is less than anticipated which means that we have had to revise our target for this week to administer just 50,000 vaccines.”

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The Western Cape government launched a private vaccination centre at Old Mutual Park in Cape Town.

The facility will have an initial capacity of about 1,400 vaccinations a day, which will be ramped up to 3,000 vaccinations a day.

ICYMI ???? Premier Alan Winde joined Old Mutual & Netcare for the launch of their private vaccination centre at Old Mutual Park in Cape Town yesterday. The facility will have an initial capacity of +-1 400 vaccinations per day, ramping up to 3 000: https://t.co/k0lFhwVAPi. pic.twitter.com/ZVxPMe8Lll

— Western Cape Gov (@WesternCapeGov) June 22, 2021