Cape Town – The provincial Health Department has recorded 1 188 health workers infected with Covid-19 across both public and private sectors.
According to statistics released yesterday, the department had recorded 595 recoveries and eight deaths, with 585 cases currently active.
By Tuesday, they recorded 130 cases at Groote Schuur Hospital, 221 at Tygerberg Hospital, 61 at Khayelitsha Hospital, 57 at New Somerset Hospital and 50 at Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
A further 42 staff tested positive at Lentegeur Hospital, 34 at Karl Bremer Hospital, 26 across EMS, 25 at Victoria Hospital and 24 at Mitchells Plain Hospital.
“As part of the ongoing collaboration between the department and organised labour, the department is hosting a training session with shop stewards, health workers and the departmental infectious disease and occupational health specialists.
"In this session (with 220 people), the priority of staff safety and protection will be reinforced,” the department said.
Earlier this week, staff at Alexandra Hospital in Maitland alleged that despite staff and patients testing positive for Covid-19, none of the wards were deep cleaned.
“There are patients who tested positive, yet afterwards they share the dining room. These patients aren’t told, there’s no transparency.
"The staff members that have tested positive do tell the management, but it fails to tell employees, and they can be unknowingly infecting more people,” an employee said.
“With the patients that tested positive, they just removed the patients from the wards, and spoke directly with the staff working with those particular patients, and failed to inform the rest of the hospital staff, though they tend to share the same dining room and same clinic.”
The employee said they felt that front-line workers’ lives were being put at risk.
Provincial Health Department spokesperson Maret Lesch said: “As at all other health facilities, we do have confirmed cases of Covid-19 at Alexandra Hospital.
"All necessary contact tracing and decontamination of affected areas have been done. All staff required to isolate or quarantine have been advised to do so.”