Johannesburg – The Gauteng government is to unleash law enforcement officers in Soweto to help with the adherence to lockdown rules due to the alarming number of cases that keep rising in the country’s biggest township.
They will ensure social distancing; that a particular number of mourners are allowed at funerals, and that there are no parties that take place in order to keep infections at bay.
Speaking on Friday at the Provincial Command Council on Covid-19 briefing, Gauteng Premier David Makhura said Soweto had the most cases in Gauteng.
“We are going to direct law enforcement in Soweto. This is to ensure enforcement at funerals and that that there are no parties,” he said.
Mayfair and the Joburg CBD were two other places that recorded high infection rates, Makhura said.
Makhura also said there were 176 297 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the province while 59 779 people had recovered from the virus.
Makhura said Gauteng went through a difficult period in the past two months as the province experienced a spike in infections, hospital admissions and deaths due to Covid-19.
“Lots of people died daily in the past two months and hospital admissions were bursting at the seams.
“The situation is better now and the number of cases in hotspots are going down as the virus is running its course.
“There is a positive story regarding the recovery rate as it’s back at 70%. The number of active cases are also going down and are at 29%.”
Makhura said the daily infection rate was going down in Gauteng. Hospital admissions, he said, were going down too.
“The surge is easing but we don’t want to say as yet that we have passed the peak. We are working on the basis that the worst is yet to come,” he said.
Makhura said statistics also showed 65% of people who died of Covid-19 were over 50 and that 58% had diabetes and suffered from hypertension.
IOL