Cape Town - The Western Cape government has been blamed for the increasing number of infections among the poor in the province after releasing a list of area-specific cases by suburb.
According to the list, the top 10 hot spot suburbs are Gugulethu with 350 cases, Khayelitsha with 319, Nyanga with 222, Leiden with 219, Langa with 186, Philippi with 185, Mfuleni with 184, Delft South with 146, Masiphumelele with 144 and Dunoon with 139.
The provincial total is 13 969.
Cameron Dugmore, leader of the ANC opposition, said: “The figures indicate what we've been witnessing on the ground for the past couple of weeks and even before.
"It shows the extent of the crisis in the Western Cape level of transmissions and we believe this is a result of the failure in certain cases to isolate people properly.”
Dugmore said: “We as the ANC are on the ground working with our Covid-19 teams in Khayelitsha, Langa, Witzenberg, Dunoon, Mossel Bay and other areas and will intensify this work and appeal that it has to be a case of all hands on deck.”
EFF MPL Melikhaya Xego said: “What is deeply concerning for us is the fact that the poorest of the poor and the vulnerable are the mostly affected by the pandemic.
“We attribute this failure to effectively deal with the spread of the virus to the unethical and reckless leadership of the Western Cape DA and ANC national government, who both put profit before the lives of our people.”
Good MPL Brett Herron said: “The infection hot spots reveal why the failure to address spatial inequality is so critical.
“The poorest communities are the most affected and the untransformed built environment is making it impossible for public health professionals to contain transmission in areas where there is concentrated poverty, inadequate housing, overcrowding, shared water and sanitation services, low penetration of food stores, and poor or limited mobility options.”
The criticisms came as Premier Alan Winde put out the daily update showing the province continuing to record recoveries, with the number of recovered patients approaching 7 000.
On the hot spots strategy, Winde said: “In Witzenberg, where our targeted hot spot plan was first piloted, over 80% of the total number of Covid-19 positive patients have now recovered. In Khayelitsha, 60% of the total case load to date has recovered, and in the Tygerberg region, 56% of the total number of cases have already recovered.”
On Sunday, the province recorded an additional 24 Covid-19 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus in the province to 300.
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