MEC for Health, Maruping Lekwene, reflected on the Covid-19 epidemic and discussed the vaccination programme that began to unfold in the Province at the Petrusville Service Fair in the Renosterberg local municipality on 14 June.
Premier, Dr. Zamani Saul, Executive Mayor of Pixley ka Seme District, John Lolwana and various stakeholders were in attendance.
The Northern Cape has entered into the 3rd wave of this pandemic, leading to alarming increases in new cases shortly after Easter.
“It is encouraging to note that for the past seven days, Renosterberg municipality only recorded 6 cases, and for that, I want to commend residents and stakeholders for their commitment and adherence to COVID-19 measures,” lauded Lekwene.
The total number of cases in the local municipality since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 stands at 495 people testing positive, with 473 recoveries and four people succumbing to the virus. To date, the local municipality has only 18 active cases.
The Northern Cape Province technically reached the 3rd new wave threshold during mid-April, wherein a single week 903 new cases were reported. However, after that, the incidence rate increased significantly for the first time since the pandemic started. As a result, the Province experienced an excess of more than 2 000 new cases in a single week.
The Province never experienced low daily case numbers after the 2nd wave, and as a result, the 3rd wave happened earlier than most of the Provinces.
According to the MEC, the Province recorded 10 632 new cases in the past four weeks, which resulted in 224 Covid-19 related deaths.
The month of May has seen more deaths than any other month, where 235 deaths occurred. This was accompanied by a significant increase in hospital admissions, especially among middle-aged and older people.
The Provincial government has refreshed its Resurgence activities, resulting in scaled-up interventions in targeted areas such as schools, nursing homes, community awareness and stakeholder engagements.
The interventions have resulted in the reduction of Covid-19 incidences. As a result, the number of weekly new cases has been dropping for the second week in a row. In the week ending 6 June 2021, the Province weekly incidence went down by 4%, from 2 737 to 2 633.
Out of 26 municipalities, only 5 recorded an increase in the past week and these are Joe Morolong, Karoo Hoogland, Khai Ma, Emthanjeni and Kheis.
“The past week trend suggests that the Province incidence is stabilising. Weekly incidence has decreased for the third week: 1 813 compared to 2 633, down by 31%. However, it is also encouraging to note that there were 2 906 and we expect this to increase significantly over the coming days and weeks,” remarked Lekwene.
Reportedly 12 000 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the first week of June, the highest rate per 100 000 people in the country.
Regarding COVID-19 bed capacity in hospitals, Lekwene announced that the Province has a total bed capacity of 3300. Therefore, public hospitals can admit 1350 COVID-19 patients should the need arise immediately.
Currently, the Provincial government has operationalized only ten public health vaccination sites.
The Northern Cape Province has received a total of 10 800 doses of JnJ and 19 890 from Pfizer vaccine.
“This week, we are anticipating additional Pfizer doses for vaccination of people over 60 years and above,” said the optimistic MEC.
The cumulative number of people vaccinated in Phase 1 of health workers & Phase 2 of people 60 years and above stands at 21 607. Therefore, Pixley Ka Seme District contribution is 1 246.
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