By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GalloImages.
Gauteng Department of Health have confirmed that a small fire broke out at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH) Laundry area.
It is understood that a small blaze started in the laundry section of the facility after the heater was found in the back office,which is also near a COVID vaccination site.
The Gauteng Health Department said more details would be released but so far, it appeared that only a few items were affected by the blaze, which has since been contained.
MEDIA STATEMENT: SMALL FIRE AT CHRIS HANI BARAGWANATH HOSPITAL LAUNDRY AREA CONTAINED. pic.twitter.com/DQthcsPUw4
— Gauteng Health (@GautengHealth) June 20, 2021
Gauteng has the biggest number of active cases at 67 769, the highest number countrywide and 12 079 fatalities after Cape Town with 13 508.
Some hospitals in and around Joburg are now under pressure as the number of Covid-19 infections coupled with trauma cases continues to increase over the weekend.
There have been calls for stricter lockdown regulations including an outright ban on alcohol, but the Gauteng government indicated that it would oppose such actions because this could be detrimental to the economy of the province.
The situation has prompted Gauteng public hospitals to temporarily suspend visitors in all health facilities in a bid to stop the spread of infections among patients.
One of the biggest health facilities in Gauteng, Chris Hani Baragwanath, put out a notice warning that the hospital was experiencing the third surge of Covid-19 pandemic “and the number of new cases are increasing daily exponentially. This has put our health care facilities under extreme pressure.
“As part of reducing the risk to our patients contracting the virus, visiting time to all Gauteng Department of Health facilities has been temporarily suspended until further notice.”
Only in exceptional cases will one visitor be allowed and that visitor cannot spend more than 15 minutes with a patient.
SA was moved to lockdown level 3 on Tuesday amid a rapid increase of Covi-19 cases. During his speech, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Gauteng continues to top the third wave and accounts for nearly two-thirds of new infections recorded over the past week.