By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Active Covid-19 cases are rising in the City of Cape Town metro with government department leaders urging increased vigilance.
The City of Cape Town said that with the peak of the third wave expected within the next week or two, the City’s health department has called for increased adherence to health protocols. New infections have slowed and there has been a slight decrease in burials, it said.
Data, provided by the Medical Research Council, shows a potential levelling out of deaths, the City said. However, it shows an increase in excess deaths in the province, indicative of the number of deaths that are occurring above what is normally expected.
The metro is seeing about 1,280 new cases a day – and while this figure has slowed, it’s not cause for us to drop our guard. It is disheartening that funeral protocol adherence continues to be problematic, with only a 72% adherence rate at funerals assessed by City Health in the past week,” said the City’s mayoral committee member for community services and health, councillor Zahid Badroodien.
“These events could become super spreaders if we’re not vigilant.”
During the past week there were 547 burials compared to 649 in the previous week, the City said.
“Even though this is a notable decrease of 102 burials, at the same time we are seeing a steady increase in the demand for cremations, having cremated 150 deceased in the past week,” Badroodien said.
The busiest cemeteries were Klip 154 (215 the previous week), Maitland 139 (on par with the previous week) and Welmoed 113 (an increase of 74).
The Western Cape is approaching its third wave peak of infections, with cases, hospitalisations and deaths still increasing, albeit at different rates, said Western Cape premier Alan Winde
“The progression of a wave of infections is that at first, the infections start to plateau, then it is followed by the hospital admissions, and only then the deaths.
“This has happened at different times in different places across the country, as we have seen in both the first and second waves, and requires heightened vigilance, especially at the peak when there is the highest number of infected people and greater pressure on our healthcare system.”
He said that while the Western Cape healthcare system remains under pressure as the province approaches the peak, it is currently coping with the demands. “We are closely monitoring our data and our bed usage through our centrally managed bed bureau system and will continue to provide updates.”
Registration and the administering of Covid-19 vaccines for the 35 – 49 age group is well underway, with the 18 – 34 age group expected to become eligible for registration from 1 September.
Meanwhile the provincial Health Department has so far spent over R125 million to lessen the impact of the third wave of Covid-19 infections, according to Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo.
In a written response to a question from ANC provincial Health spokesperson Rachel Windvogel, Mbombo said the most money spent was R66 million which was spent on medical supplies and the least amount was R838, which was spent on catering for departmental activities.
Windvogel had asked about the department’s total budget to lessen the impact of the third wave of the pandemic and wanted a breakdown of the department’s expenditure to date.
Among the other big ticket items on the list, Mbombo provided in response to the query were laboratory services which come to R39.2 million and travel and subsistence allowances that have come to R5.8 million.
Transportation provided by the department has so far cost R968 137, while agency and support outsourced services have cost R3.7 million.