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Health authorities say Western Cape has passed peak of second wave

January 19, 2021

Health authorities in the Western Cape say the province has now passed the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 infections and they are now seeing a decrease in the number of new infections. The head of the province’s health department, Dr Keith Cloete, was speaking during a weekly digital media briefing.

Cloete says they have also seen a decrease in hospital admissions and a decline in oxygen use.

He says the possibility of a third wave is still speculation at this stage.

“There’s a likelihood to be some obstinate cases at some point and it might be as early as April. But what we are going to do is sit with our infectious disease specialists and look at all the evidence. But the more important question is, how do we start institutionalising a practice of working and functioning and moving safely that you don’t have to have a strict change in restrictions every time you have a swing. “

Mkhize assures South Africans that the government is ready for vaccination programme:

Vaccination

Western Cape Health Minister Dr Nomafrench Mbombo says the province’s health workers will likely receive 10% of the first one million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine that are due to arrive in the country from India later this month.

The government has already stated that healthcare workers will be the first to receive the vaccine.

The province has around 100 000 healthcare workers.

“When we work it out in terms of the formula that we already use for the allocation we might get about 10% of the batches for the healthcare workers taking into consideration that the national work out is on 1.25 million of healthcare workers in the whole of SA that will need to be vaccinated in the first phase.”

Below are the latest coronavirus stats in SA: