Media Release: Update on the coronavirus by Premier Alan Winde

18 August 2020

As of 1pm on 18 August, the Western Cape has 5678 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of confirmed 101 196 cases and 91 877  recoveries.

Cape Metro Sub-districts:

Sub-districts:

Unallocated: 4647 (4357 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 48 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the province to 3641. We send our condolences to their family and friends at this time.

Hotspot interventions continue:

The Western Cape has seen declines in the numbers of infections in many of our hotspots over time, however, we cannot become complacent and work on our hotspot strategy continues.  Our efforts to reduce the spread of infection continue in all of our hotspot areas, especially now that we have moved to alert level 2, and more of our economy opens up.

The Western Cape Government introduced the strategy to manage the areas where infections were highest, to put in place all-of-society measures to slow the spread and to bring about long term behaviour change.

Each team continues to report back to cabinet every week, with detailed indicators and reports on their activities in areas including health interventions, plans to slow the spread, encouraging civil compliance, as well as humanitarian and economic interventions and information.

Health interventions:

In the Central Karoo and in the Garden Route, teams continue to monitor the numbers of infections as these two areas are still not yet past their peaks. Community screening and testing continues in all of our non-metro areas in the province, and additional healthcare resources, including additional beds, are being made available in both regions.

The Department of Health's Community Healthcare Worker programme continues in all of the hotspots, where they play an important role in monitoring of health, sharing of COVID-19 information and the delivery of chronic medications. In Du Noon in the Western sub-district, bicycles have been made available to support the distribution of medicines in this community by healthcare workers.

Humanitarian work:

On the humanitarian front, the hotspot teams work closely with NGOs, community organisations, farmers and local governments in the area to determine where feeding schemes, soup kitchens and food parcel distribution is happening. The Department of Agriculture in the Western Cape is also providing food garden starter packs which will allow families to grow their own food, and which will provide ongoing food security. The Department has provided over 2000 of these gardens so far.

The Education Department continues to provide meals for learners through the school feeding scheme. The Department of Social Development also continues to support feeding through funded organisations and ECDs.

Economic interventions:

Both the City of Cape Town and the Department of Economic Development of Tourism are supplying small businesses with COVId-19 safety kits to help them operate safely. In the Southern sub-district COVID-19 educational materials have been distributed to hair salons, food preparation businesses and funeral parlours in Wynberg, while the city of Cape Town's environmental health officers have helped with hygiene interventions at formal and informal food vendors in ImizamaYethu. In Du Noon, tippy taps, which are handwashing stations that do not require running water, and bleach, have been distributed to 37 spaza shops.

"No mask no entry" posters have also been developed and are being distributed to businesses in hotspots to display to their customers.

In the Cape Winelands district, which is a predominantly agricultural region, the Department of Agriculture is monitoring the economic impact of the lockdown on the agricultural sector. 

A Community Economic Recovery Project will support up to 150 spaza shops and food suppliers in local communities by issuing electronic vouchers to local community kitchens to buy their ingredients at these stores- helping to ensure that humanitarian relief and economic relief go hand in hand in these areas.

Slowing the spread:

The hotspot teams have all implemented a variety of interventions aimed at slowing the spread, working in conjunction with community members, local organisations and local governments. In the Central Karoo for instance, compliance officers have been placed at schools in the district to help with screening and social distancing. In Overstrand, in the Overberg district, sanitizing of public spaces happens regularly- with taxi ranks being sanitized twice daily, and side walks once daily. In Grabouw and Botrivier, also in Overberg, the CBD areas are sanitized twice weekly. 

Inspections of businesses, taxi ranks and public spaces also happen regularly in the hotspots to ensure compliance with the golden rules of hygiene and with business regulations. In Atlantis in the Western sub-district, 49 business premises were inspected in one week, with the non-compliant ones being reported to the Department of Labour. 

In the Overberg, weekly informational interactions take place with funeral undertakers, and in Klipfontein, educational and awareness materials are shared with traditional healers.

Mask activations are regularly held in most of the hotspots where mask donations, either from Wesgro's Maskathon project, or from private donors are distributed.  Masks have recently been delivered in Langa and Atlantis.

Civil compliance:

Projects to ensure civil compliance with hygiene, mask wearing and social distancing are happening in all hotspots. The Overberg has trained COVID-19 ambassadors to conduct household visits to share information and pamphlets, while in Khayelitsha, neighbourhood watches and Chrysalis volunteers are stationed at public spaces to share information and to encourage behaviour change. Chrysalis graduates will also be deployed to Atlantis soon, while EPWP workers are also active in various communities.

All of these interventions rely heavily on the partnerships we have built with communities, the private sector and various organisations. These hotspot interventions are truly a whole of society project with the aim of changing behaviour and saving lives. We must all continue to do our part as individuals to protect ourselves and our loved ones and to slow down the spread of COVID-19. I call on every single person to help the hotspot teams do their work by ensuring that you are wearing a mask, washing your hands regularly and practicing social distancing. 

I also call on communities to support local businesses as much as they can so that we can protect jobs, support small businesses and respond to the second pandemic of unemployment.

Issued by Western Cape Office of the Premier, 18 August 2020