Cape Town - Premier Alan Winde said that they have commenced planning to assist the vulnerable areas in the province which includes Dunoon, Kosovo and iThemba informal areas.
This comes following the release of his presentation arguing why the Western Cape should move to level 3 of lockdown. It was revealed on Tuesday that the number of confirmed Covid-19
cases in the province passed
the 10 000 mark as 631 new cases
were confirmed, bringing the total to
10 558.
Eighteen new deaths from the coronavirus has seen the death toll rise to 183 from 165 the previous day, and 632 more people recovered from the disease, bringing the number of those who have fully recovered to 4363.
As many as 2 716 tests were completed, increasing the number of tests done in the Western Cape to 96 991.
Premier Alan Winde has reiterated that the province has prepared its health-care system for the peak of the pandemic's infection rate, allowing it to safely move to level 3 of the lockdown in conjunction with its targeted hot-spot strategy.
“This is not business as usual. I take this pandemic seriously and I don’t believe we can just return to normal. Major interventions are needed in these hot spots so that we can save lives. This strategy, however, allows for more of the economy to open while doing so, thereby preventing a severe humanitarian crisis from unfolding at the same time,” Winde said.
“This is not a zero-sum game. We can care for sick people and save lives now, and we can do it in a way that saves lives in the future too.”
He said R725.5 million had been committed towards Covid-19-related expenditure across the provincial government: “Our initial projections indicate that more than 200 000 jobs are going to be lost in the Western Cape alone due to the lockdown and level 4 restrictions, even with the gradual lifting of restrictions over time.
“The situation will be even worse if we stay on alert level 4 and businesses are forced to stay closed.
“Making sure that people are safe and that the virus is slowed is critical. All law enforcement has been under the joint command of the SAPS and the SANDF, including metro police.
“In hot-spot areas we are working with all enforcement role-players to ensure compliance. This has included integrated roadblocks, vehicles checks, and deployments.
“Five-hundred Leap (gang violence) officers were deployed to the SAPS clusters," he added.
“We understand that vulnerable communities are most at risk and have commenced planning to assist these areas. This includes Dunoon, Kosovo and iThemba informal areas.”
“We have identified land and existing pipeline projects in close proximity to hotspot areas in order to plan and fast track assistance for communities of hotspot areas. We have assisted municipalities and Department of Water and Sanitation to identify areas of water shortages across the province, and thus far delivered a total of 615 water tanks with 14 Water Tankers already in use,” Winde said
He added that the City of Cape Town has at its own cost purchased 93 tanks and installed all of them as of 30 April 2020.