Pretoria - Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan will be joining MECs Lebogang Maile and Tasneem Motara as district champions to intensify the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in the City of Tshwane.
Head administrator Mpho Nawa last week said Gordhan’s appointment to head the City’s battle against the virus was commendable due to his vast experience in government.
The MECs' deployment to bolster the Covid-19 fight was made as Pretoria continued to grapple with rising cases of the pandemic. Region 3 - which includes the CBD, Pretoria West, Laudium, Hercules and Atteridgeville - is the hardest hit.
According to the latest statistics, the region accounted for the fourth largest coronavirus positive cases in the province with 8773, of which 3826 are still active.
The region recorded an exponential increase of 1933 cases in the week leading up to July 23.
In the same period, Region 1 (Ga-Rankuwa, Mabopane, Soshanguve, Winterveldt, Rosslyn, Karenpark, Wonderboom, Thereza Park and Orchards) experienced a sharp increase with 1376 during the same period.
According to last week’s statistics, the same recorded the 11th largest confirmed coronavirus cases in the province with 6084 cases. Of these, 3035 are still active.
On the other hand, Region 2 (Hammaskraal, Temba, Suurman, Stinkwater, Ramotse and Kekana Gardens) recorded 521 cases.
Region 6, which covers Lethabong, Mamelodi, Garsfontein, Lynnwood, Mooikloof, Equestria and Silverlakes, stood at 3082 in terms of the highest number of active cases.
The overall picture in the city showed that the virus continued to spread unabated with more than 27000 confirmed infections, 214 deaths, 14606 active cases and 13085 recoveries.
The city overall accounted for 17% of confirmed cases in the province, making it the third largest metro in Gauteng after Joburg with 46% and Ekurhuleni at 28%.
The provincial command council also reported that the number of food parcels distributed to Pretoria households was 111361, feeding about 556805 people.
Since the lockdown 393447 households in the province have been provided with food relief, supporting a total of 967235 people.
“However, the demand for food far outstrips our capacity to meet the need. We continue to call for more support from business, foundations and civil society initiatives on food relief,” the command council said.
When the lockdown started, the City had 2465 homeless people housed at shelters set up by the government. The number has since declined to 1742 after many absconded from the shelters to return to the streets. Others were reunited with their families and some were sent to rehabilitation centres.
*For the latest on the Covid-19 outbreak, visit IOL's #Coronavirus trend page.
** If you think you have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus, please call the 24-hour hotline on 0800 029 999 or visit sacoronavirus.co.za
Pretoria News