Media Release: Update on the coronavirus by Premier Alan Winde

11 September 2020

As of 1pm on 11 September, the Western Cape has 2850 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 107 353 confirmed cases and 100 466 recoveries.

Cape Metro Sub-districts:

Sub-districts:

Unallocated: 2275 (2216 recovered)

Data note: It is not always possible to check and verify that the address data supplied for each new recorded case is correct, within the time frames required to provide regular and timely updates. This means that in some instances, cases could be allocated to the wrong sub-districts. We are working with the sub-districts to clean and verify the data and where errors are picked up locally, cases will be re-allocated to the correct areas. 

The Western Cape has recorded an additional 17 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the province to 4037. We send our condolences to their family and friends at this time.

Reminder: This data release is no longer issued on weekends but all data can be accessed on the Western Cape data dashboard https://coronavirus.westerncape.gov.za/covid-19-dashboard  which is updated daily after 1pm. 

Cabinet receives presentations on budget and jobs:

As I outlined in my weekly digicon yesterday, the Western Cape cabinet met today to discuss our position on the further opening of the economy. This position will be presented to President Cyril Ramaphosa when he holds his consultations with provinces regarding a possible move to a lower alert level. 

During today’s cabinet meeting, we received presentations from various departments on the provincial budget processes as well as on plans to stimulate the economy to create jobs, as part of our economic recovery plan.  

We will be considering these inputs, together with the available health data, over the next few days. We will continue the discussion in our cabinet meeting on Tuesday, where a formal position on the further opening of the economy will be adopted. 

The Western Cape Government is committed to using a data-driven and evidence-based approach to decision making and this decision will be no different. The GDP data released this week was a clear indicator that we need to act swiftly and decisively to set our economy on the right track. Failure to do so will result in even more job losses, which will have a major impact on the lives and well-being of the people of this province. 

At the same time, we must be cognizant of the fact that COVID-19 will be part of our lives for many more months to come and we must take decisions with this in mind.  

Any position we adopt must therefore ensure that we move forward and that we do it safely.

Over the past few months, the Western Cape has made significant progress in defeating COVID-19, due to the efforts of all of our citizens, the hard work of every single one of our healthcare workers and frontline staff, and focused, data-driven interventions by the Western Cape Government. 

As we move forward, our response must be accompanied by the same dedication and data-led approach and we will need the continued, active participation of our residents. We therefore call on everyone to stay safe by wearing their masks, and practicing hygiene and social distancing, but our call is now also accompanied by a call to go out and to support local businesses. These are the building blocks that will not only help us to manage COVID-19 in the province, but start to rebuild our economy one job at a time, allow us to access medical care which has been delayed due to COVID,  protect our children with all of the vaccines they need, and get them back into school. Let's get back to work, and let's make sure we do it safely.

UPDATE: 10 September 2020

As of 1pm on 10 September, the Western Cape has 2989 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 107 229 confirmed cases and 100 220 recoveries.

Cape Metro Sub-districts:

Sub-districts:

Unallocated: 2386 (2227 recovered)

Data note: It is not always possible to check and verify that the address data supplied for each new recorded case is correct, within the time frames required to provide regular and timely updates. This means that in some instances, cases could be allocated to the wrong sub-districts. We are working with the sub-districts to clean and verify the data and where errors are picked up locally, cases will be re-allocated to the correct areas. 

More data is available here: https://coronavirus.westerncape.gov.za/covid-19-dashboard

The Western Cape has recorded an additional 11 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the province to 4020. We send our condolences to their family and friends at this time.

A note on today's data:

The Western Cape has recorded 529 new cases today which is higher than the daily average we have seen over the past few weeks. This is partly to do with data delays and the addition of some historic cases. Additionally, the Western Cape has expanded its testing criteria in the Cape Metro including the following categories of people: pre-operative testing of asymptomatic patients, people who have died at home from natural causes, public sector "essential workers" with symptoms, incarcerated people with symptoms, learners and school staff with symptoms and workers with symptoms. In the past 24 hours, we have conducted over 3700 tests, which is a significant increase on previous daily numbers which averaged between about 1000 to 2000 tests daily before.

Rolling out healthcare services:

Today, the Western Cape recorded its 100 000th recovery, which is an incredible symbol of hope. COVID-19 is a serious illness, which has resulted in the devastating loss of many lives around the world, but the fact that so many people have been able to recover in the Western Cape, makes the hard work to save lives worth it.

The Western Cape has also seen significant reductions in the numbers of cases, deaths and admissions since the peak was experienced. 

As a result, our healthcare services have more available capacity, which allows us to focus on rolling out other healthcare services. The Western Cape Department of Health has devised a strategy which will allow us to roll out those healthcare services with the least amount of COVID-19 infection risk, and the biggest impact on people’s health. 

These include immunisations and TB treatment. 

Immunisations are an important healthcare tool, which help to manage illness and prevent outbreaks. We have seen a reduction in the uptake of immunisations over the COVID-19 period, but we are working hard to ensure that we are able to catch up. 

This is evident in our June data for immunisations which indicates a higher number of immunisations in both rural and metro areas, when compared with the same month in 2018 and 2019.  

The Western Cape also saw a decline of 47% in TB testing and a 33% decline in the number of people diagnosed with TB in June 2020, when compared with historical data. Many of the country’s testing labs were overwhelmed with COVID-19 testing at the peak of the pandemic, and this will have impacted our TB testing ability. 

With capacity now available in the testing system, our focus is on rapidly increasing GeneXpert testing for TB over the next six months. 

We have also seen a decline in the number of surgeries being performed in the province. Ensuring that we are able to ramp up surgeries safely is complex, as patients need to be tested before surgery and social distancing protocols still need to be observed. The Department of Health has tasked a dedicated team to determine the best way forward to ensure that we are able to re-introduce operations safely. 

Throughout April, May and June, headcounts at primary healthcare facilities in the province dropped to about 250 000 per month, from around 400 000 in previous years. While our intention is to scale up healthcare services, we want to ensure that we are able to maintain the 250 000 as a new baseline figure. This will prevent overcrowding and ensure that we can offer the best possible service to our residents. 

We can use some of our COVID experiences and projects in order to maintain this. The Department of Health intends to continue with home-based medicine deliveries for stable, chronic patients, which ensures that patients do not have to go to a healthcare facility just to pick up their medication. Our management of diabetic patients with COVID-19 has also shown us that there is space for the introduction of a call centre or “telemedicine” for ongoing patient care post-COVID-19. 

While we roll out additional healthcare services, it remains vital that we continue to focus on COVID-19, to ensure that we are able to keep new infections low, or to detect any signs of a resurgence, early on. 

This requires all of us to continue to take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This includes wearing your mask correctly when you leave home, continuing with hand washing and other hygiene practices, and keeping a distance of 1.5 metres between yourself and any other person when you go out. By continuing to make these simple measures part of our daily lives and routines, we can stay safe, and move forward. 

Issued by Western Cape Office of the Premier, 12 September 2020