Update on the coronavirus by Premier Alan Winde

21 May 2020

As of 1pm on 21 May, the Western Cape has 5677 active cases of Covid-19, with a total of 11 810 confirmed cases and 5677 recoveries.

Sub Districts Cape Town Metro:

Sub Districts Non-Metro:

 Unallocated: 805 (57 recovered)

 Additional data can be accessed on the dashboard at www.westerncape.gov.za/coronavirus

The Western Cape has recorded an additional 24 COVID-19 deaths-bringing the total number of deaths from the virus in the province to 235. We send our condolences to the family and the loved ones of the deceased at this time.

Yesterday, the country was shocked to hear about the death of a two-day old baby who had been born prematurely, as a result of COVID-19 infection. We are saddened by this tragic loss of such a young life and send our deepest sympathies to the family at this time. Western Cape doctors are currently investigating the case, to better understand all the details.

Healthcare system preparedness

The Western Cape Government has been working around the clock to make sure that the healthcare system is prepared at the peak. This includes making available additional immediate care, acute care and critical care capacity in our healthcare system.

1428 additional intermediate care beds will be provided by temporary “field hospitals” in the Western Cape;

• This includes the 850 additional beds provided for at the CTICC temporary hospital facility
• 330 beds at the Brackengate temporary hospital facility
• 68 beds at the Khayelitsha Thusong Centre
• 150 beds at the Cape Winelands Sonstraal Hospital
• 30 additional beds at the Tygerberg Hospital

2162 acute beds will be provided by existing public sector capacity including 658 additional beds through expansion.

We are also looking to make 550 critical care (ICU and High Care) beds available at the peak:

• 150 beds that already exist in public health facilities
• 100 additional beds to be added in the public sector (but additional resources are needed for these)
• We will purchase 300 beds from the private sector for patients from the public sector

There are still an additional 300 ICU beds in the private sector available when this is considered.

This means that we have a potential total of 850 ICU beds available in the Western Cape. 

I would like to make clear therefore that the Western Cape Government's health response planning has taken all of the existing private and public sector ICU or high care beds into account, in an integrated single healthcare system response.

As at close of business on Tuesday, the province had 143 patients in ICU or high care in both the public and private sector.

I must also make clear- while we have sufficient capacity at this time to meet our current critical care needs, as we have indicated before, even in the best-case scenario, we will still fall short of ICU beds.

This is why it is so vitally important that we focus on protecting the most vulnerable. About 90 percent of people who contract COVID-19 will not require hospitalisation, but we have seen from our data that those who are most at risk of becoming seriously ill or dying are the elderly, and those with underlying health conditions.

This is why we will be streamlining our testing and contact tracing to focus on high risk groups such as health workers and vulnerable people. We will also be re-purposing our community screening and testing programme to focus on high risk groups.

We have also provided in excess of 86 000 flu vaccines in the PUBLIC sector thus far, with over 65 000 of these to vulnerable groups and over 25 000 to healthcare workers.

We need the help of every single person. We simply can’t do this alone. You need to keep yourself safe. When you do this, you interrupt the chain of transmission and slow the virus. You can help us save lives by changing your behaviour:

• Stay home as much as possible
• Always wear a clean cloth mask in public
• Always follow the golden rules of good hygiene (a mask alone is not enough)
• Keep your distance from people at all times
• Avoid gatherings of people
• If you are sick, stay home and call the hotline. If you are having difficulty breathing, seek urgent healthcare.

Minister Mbombo hands over masks in Gugulethu:

Today Minister Mbombo handed over masks to the Ikhaya Loxolo Old Age Home in Gugulethu as part of a public-private initiative coordinated by WoW! (Western Cape on Wellness), in partnership with The Health Foundation, Coconut Jazz and other organisations. 

Minister Mbombo said: "The purpose of this initiative is to provide free quality masks to children and adults in vulnerable communities in the Western Cape.
Today we handed over masks at Ikhaya Loxolo Old Age Hometo protect elderly who are deemed as vulnerable from getting the virus. I appeal to the corporates and individuals to assist in this initiative by donating masks to enable us to distribute them far and wide”.

Joint statement by the Western Cape and Eastern Cape Provinces on travel protocols:

This morning, a meeting held to discuss solutions to improve management of traveling, transportation of bodies between the Eastern and Western Cape provinces during the covid19 pandemic resolved that four regulatory protocols must be drafted by the two Premiers and submitted to national government for processing and for consideration by the National Command Council. 

The virtual meeting, which took place this morning was attended by Premier Lubabalo Mabuyane and myself, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, Police Minister, Bheki Cele, Health MECs, Sindiswa Gomba, Nomafrench Mbombo, Safety and Liaison MECs Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe and Albert Fritz and the Police leadership from both provinces. 

The meeting follows a discussion during the Presidential Coordinating Council where the two provinces reported that they were in talks trying to find protocols of cooperation.

The protocols being developed by the two provinces will focus on: 

-Joint cooperation on agriculture to specifically manage the movement and employment conditions of seasonal workers between the two provinces. 

 -Management of funerals with a focus on restricting movement of bodies of COVID-19 related deaths.

- Management of general travelling of people between the two provinces given the easing of restrictions and to manage traveling when schools and universities are opened. 

We also discussed collaboration between provincial departments of health and the South African Police Services in both provinces to enforce restrictions around transportation of bodies.  

The meeting agreed that the situation affecting these two provinces is not unique to the two and needs national government consideration to better manage travel and the transportation of bodies nationally in a manner that helps to contain the transmission of Covid19. 

The two provinces have committed to work together to hold joint operations and cooperate to ensure the proper management of travel, to curb  emerging criminality and ensure the dignified transportation of bodies for funerals of people who die in the Western Cape to be buried in the Eastern Cape.

Premier Mabuyane said: “I must say that on almost every discussion we had during the meeting, we are agreeing. There is a sufficient consensus around such discussions. Some of these discussions are inter-provincial so they need to be done in the context of national regulations, hence the importance of having Ministers participating in that bilateral."

On the Western Cape's part, we welcome the opportunity to engage with the Eastern Cape on this matter, as travel between our two provinces by seasonal farm workers returning home or to work, and to attend funerals is common. Regulations and protocols must be designed in such a way that they limit the spread of the virus, but still allow people living and working in the Western Cape who need to return to the Eastern Cape to bury loved ones, to grieve appropriately.

Issued by the Office of the Western Cape Premier, 21 May 2020