This is how the Western Cape is preparing for a surge in Covid-19 cases

"Data shows that the transmission of the virus between people is accelerating. Community transmission is well established, and more people are going to get infected." Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency(ANA)

"Data shows that the transmission of the virus between people is accelerating. Community transmission is well established, and more people are going to get infected." Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency(ANA)

Published May 7, 2020

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Cape Town - Premier Alan Winde says the province is placing emphasis in an active case finding approach to testing, stating that this approach would allow them to follow the “bush fires”.

He said adopting an active case finding approach would allow them to find the pockets of infections and allow the province to focus screening and testing on these clusters.

"We do this because we want to be as accurate as possible in recording our number of cases in the Western Cape, as well as use our resources efficiently. This allows us to monitor the progression of the virus in the Western Cape, and in turn, allows us to prepare our health system through scenario planning," he said.

He added that their data shows that the transmission of the virus between people in the Western Cape is accelerating. Community transmission is well established, and more and more people are going to get infected by Covid-19 over the coming weeks as the virus spreads.

"Its nature, as we have seen globally, is to grow exponentially. This is a new phase in the transmission of the virus, which the entire country will enter into at some point (and perhaps has entered into in some areas already), depending on their trajectory," Winde said.

"This has been made clear by both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Professor Salim Abdool Karim. The lockdown bought us time to prepare our health system for the pandemic and the peak that is still to come. It also allowed us to “flatten the curve”. It will not stop the virus, and it will continue to spread.

"Our focus must continue to be on preparing our health response so that we are ready for the peak, on protecting vulnerable groups of people, and on ensuring that we continue to test and confirm Covid-19 cases in our province based on epidemiological evidence," Winde said.

"Accurate reporting of data is also critical. We must be fully transparent and honest with the people of the Western Cape at all times, because information is power. The more data we have, the better our health response can be. The more information our residents have, the better they can help us flatten the curve by changing their behaviour. We must work as one team, together," Winde said.

Treatment innovation:

Premier Winde that they have also started recording promising findings on the use of proning (positioning the patient on their stomach) and high-flow oxygen in treating patients who are seriously ill, as opposed to the use of ventilators.

"Some interesting findings in this regard are also starting to be recorded abroad, suggesting it may be a more effective way to treat those patients who are seriously ill. We will continue to monitor this as it will inform our strategy as the number of confirmed cases in the Western Cape increases in the weeks ahead," he said.

Preparing our health-system for the peak:

"At last week’s press conference, I announced that the Cape Town International Convention Centre was to be converted into an over 850 bed temporary Covid-19 hospital, following its approval by Cabinet.

"I can confirm that the process of equipping the hospital has already begun. We will continue to update media on its progress over the course of the next few weeks," Winde said.

The provincial government is also in the process of finalising three additional temporary hospital facilities, which will contribute to over 1400 additional beds during the peak. Two of these three additional hospital facilities will be in the City of Cape Town, with the third in the Cape Winelands.

"We can also announce that we have the following testing and triage centres operational: Tygerberg Hospital, Victoria Hospital, Khayelitsha Hospital, Karl Bremer Hospital, Mitchells Plain Hospital, Paarl Hospital, New Somerset Hospital, George Hospital, Wesfleur, Eerste River Hospitals, Heideveld EC and Kraaifontein CHC.

"The following testing and triage centres are currently nearing completion or are still under construction: Red Cross Children’s Hospital, False Bay Hospital, Helderberg Hospital, Worcester Hospital, Groote Schuur Hospital, Mowbray Maternity Hospital and Ceres Hospital, " he said.

Winde said that they will make further announcements on these facilities soon.

Cape Argus

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