Cape Town - Health officials have pinpointed community transmission as the cause of the spike in Covid-19 infections, that have gripped the tiny town of Kliprand, in the Matzikama Municipality.
The town, with a total population of about 250 people, has recorded three deaths in the past two weeks, and 30 positive cases. Half of the town’s households are said to be in quarantine.
A primary school in the community also announced its closure till June 26, after a pupil tested positive.
The school’s principal and community activist Arrie Cloete said 13 out of the 34 pupils of the school were in quarantine.
“We are not sure where the positive cases started. We were at our church meeting last week Sunday, where we had three children who were baptised. Most of our community members were in that meeting. But the first fatal case was already on Friday, a week ago, after a woman tested as positive after she lost her life,” Cloete said.
Vaccinations, which were scheduled to take place in the community on Thursday, were “rescheduled” for a later day, to give those who have tested positive enough time to recover before getting the vaccine, health officials said.
Manager of the medical services in the Matzikama sub-district in the West Coast Dr Earlin Ockhuis said contact tracing teams have been in contact with those affected.
“Over the past seven days, we have seen 30 new infections reported for Kliprand. Because the community is so small, established community transmission can progress quickly. This is not uncommon to small areas with community transmission.
“The right thing to do to for anyone who tested positive or who has been identified as a close contact, is to isolate – this is avoid putting others at risk. We urge the community to wear their masks, maintain a safe social distance from others, and to keep windows open when with other people,” he said.
Matzikama Municipality Covid-19 Task Team coordinator Ruben Saul said they were monitoring the situation.
“On Friday night, we went there with our humanitarian assistance. Some of the shops are closed and the school will reopen. We foresee a situation where the community can go back to normality and we are positive about that, especially with the ongoing humanitarian support. We also have an isolation centre, in which four of the people in Kliprand are hosted, due to the social conditions at home,” said Saul.
Rural and Farmworkers Development Organisation director Billy Claasen said if the government does not act fast, the situation in the area can have “catastrophic consequences”.
“The spike of coronavirus in the West Coast is worrisome and we ask the Department of Health to intervene urgently. The government also needs to look at quarantine sites closer to the communities, so that communities can quarantine once members have been tested positive,” he said.
Prof Ian Sanne of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand, and Right to Care chief executive and member of the Minister’s Advisory Committee on Covid-19 (MAC) said the most important intervention in community spread outbreak was to stop all gatherings “completely”.
Cape Times