Media Release: Update on the coronavirus by Premier Alan Winde

5 August 2020

As of 1pm on 5 August, the Western Cape has 9652 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 96 446 confirmed cases and 83 529 recoveries.

Cape Metro Sub-districts:

Sub-districts:

Unallocated: 5525 (4837 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 29 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the province to 3265.  We send our condolences to the loved ones of all the deceased at this time.

Stellenbosch testing and triage centre opens:

Today, Health Minister Nomafrench Mbombo opened the new testing and triage centre in Stellenbosch. This is one of 26 of these facilities which have already been completed across the province, with others still under construction. These centres allow hospitals to separate testing and triage from their other healthcare activities. While the province has seen a decline in the number of new cases in certain areas, these centres will still be play an important role in testing in the coming months as we expect the virus to be around for many more months.

Minister Mbombo also visited Kayamandi for a community activation aimed at sharing information with community members to help slow the spread.

In addition to the testing centre, work on the first phase of of the Sonstraal hospital in Paarl is well under way, with the first 63 additional beds due to come online on 10 August

The Cape Winelands District Municipality has recorded a total of 10984 infections and 9526 recoveries-a recovery rate of over 85%. 

I am also pleased to see the increased uptake in the use of quarantine and isolation facilities in the Cape Winelands district over the past few weeks-almost doubling from 29% to 57%. These facilities are an important tool in slowing the spread, creating a safe and comfortable space for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 to isolate or for those who are direct contacts of a positive case, to quarantine. These facilities are especially important if you share your home with anyone who might be high risk- such as an elderly parent, or a loved one with an underlying illness.

I call on all residents in this region to work with us to ensure that we are able to slow the spread, save more lives and ensure that we do not have a second wave of infections.

The Cape Winelands is an important farming region in the Western Cape, contributing significantly to our economy, to job creation and to food security in the province. We therefore encourage all businesses to take the necessary precautions to ensure that their staff are kept safe. Slowing the spread of this virus will also allow for more areas of our economy to open up, so that we can avoid the second unemployment pandemic.

Further information on the historical deaths reported yesterday:

Yesterday, the Western Cape reported 93 additional deaths- with the majority of these being historical deaths which have now been correctly allocated as COVID-19 deaths. These deaths did not occur in hospitals, and as such, our Department of Health may not have picked up a COVID-19 positive result. 

These deaths were recorded as follows:

4 deaths in May

33 deaths in June

16 deaths in July

and 8 deaths in August.

The Western Cape has been working closely with the NICD, using sophisticated, integrated systems to cross reference excess reported deaths to determine if they are COVID-19 related in order to ensure that our records are as accurate as possible. As we continue with these processes, we will continue to keep residents informed.

Issued by Western Cape Office of the Premier, 5 August 2020