As of 1pm on 16 May, the Western Cape recorded 5 263 active cases of Covid-19 with a total of 8 507 confirmed cases and 3 097 recoveries.
Saturday's statistics showed a considerable jump in new infections over the past 24 hours, noted Western Cape Premier Alan Winde.
"There are a number of reasons for this large jump: as we have indicated before, the curve of the virus is moving faster in the Western Cape as a result of entrenched community transmission in some of the Western Cape's hotspot areas.
"The Western Cape has also seen a considerable increase in the number of tests conducted in the past 24 hours (6150 additional tests), and backlogs in the processing of tests at the National Health Laboratory Services result in batches of results being released simultaneously," said Winde.
The premier attended a virtual meeting of the President Cyril Ramaphosa's Coordinating Council on Saturday. The focus of the discussion was around the response to Covid-19 across the provinces, and the move towards level 3 of the lockdown.
On the outcome of the meeting, Winde said: "The Western Cape presented its hotspot strategy to the group, as the provincial response to the number of infections in nine geographical areas.
"These areas - in each of the City of Cape Town's eight sub-districts, and in Witzenberg account for a large proportion of the Western Cape's infections. Using the data and evidence available to us, we will be able to specifically target these areas with responses from across government departments."
The breakdown of infection rate is as follows:
Total confirmed COVID-19 cases: 8507
Total recoveries: 3097
Total deaths: 147
Total active cases (currently infected patients): 5263
Total number of tests: 86250
Hospital admissions: 360 of which 108 are in ICU or high care
