Cape Town – As the provincial government remains adamant that the Western Cape is ready to move to lockdown level 3 despite the daily spike in Covid-19 infections and deaths, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize warned that the situation in the province and its neighbouring Eastern Cape “will get out of control” if the strategy was not changed.
Mkhize was addressing President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Eastern
Cape cabinet led by Premier Oscar Mabuyane in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality yesterday.
Ramaphosa had visited that province to monitor progress in its fight against the spread of the virus. “The challenge here is that the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape will get out of control if we don’t change strategy. The strategy is clear and focused,” Mkhize said.
“I want to say, we haven’t done any calculations, but we need to look at June and July. We are going to have an outbreak that is out of control.”
His comments came soon after Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said in a statement, while under self-quarantine, that the provincial government would use the process of consultation announced by Ramaphosa to “make clear our position that the entire province must move down to level 3 as soon as possible, preferably before the end of May 2020”.
“With our health-care system prepared, it is simply no longer possible to maintain level 4 restrictions anywhere in the Western Cape or South Africa.
"The economic crisis caused by these restrictions has resulted in a life-threatening humanitarian disaster that will only worsen in the months ahead,” Winde said.
By yesterday, the Western Cape had 129 deaths and 7220 confirmed Covid-19 cases - a jump from 6767 cases the previous day. There were 2573 recoveries.
Mabuyane told Ramaphosa that: “The Western Cape issue is posing a problem for us. As people die in the Western Cape, many of them are buried here and there are Covid-19 cases We do not blame anyone about that. It is our collective. We cannot chase these people away, this is their home.
“If you consider the situation of Cape Town in winter, it is going to be rainy and they are going to be sick. The only comfort they have is to come back to their homes. They are in a better
situation than being in informal settlements in the Western Cape.
“We were even looking at this thing of transporting corpses from the Western Cape. It is a risky situation because we have picked up those positive cases in those minibus taxis that are bringing those people here as well. That on its own needs a national focus.”
University of the Western
Cape (UWC) director of research
development and principal investigator of molecular biology and virology, in the Department of Medical
BioSciences, Professor Burtram
Fielding said when looking at
the numbers it was important to
consider who was being tested.
“If we are testing those with
symptoms, or those who have been
in contact with them, only, the
number of positive cases is likely to
be much higher.
"Studies on previous
coronavirus cases, including the
Sars and Mers epidemics, have
clearly shown that the number will
be higher if you test those who are
presumptive positive/probable cases
or their contacts only,” Fielding said.
Professors Taryn Young and
René English, from the department
of global health at Stellenbosch
University’s Faculty of Medicine and
Health Sciences, said the Western
Cape was carrying out testing using a
targeted testing approach instead of
a general approach.
“Where essential workplace
clusters evolving around retail
sites are identified, the relevant
local communities are then tested.
There is thus a higher ‘hit’ rate.
The
Western Cape is also carrying out
more tests per 100"000 persons than
any other province in South Africa.
Other provinces will also see a rise in
cases as lockdown eases.”
Opposition parties in the
provincial legislature have rejected
Winde’s call for the province to
move to level 3.