Booze ban welcomed as Gauteng approaches infection peak – Health MEC

Gauteng health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku has said that the Gauteng province is now the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa.

Masuku was on Friday providing an update from the provincial coronavirus command council, where he said in comparison to the national figures, Gauteng accounted for 36% of active cases and 46% confirmed cases of Covid-19.

He said the province was recording between 4,800 to 5,000 daily cases and that more effort will be put in place to stop or reduce transmissions and disrupt the spread of the disease.

Masuku said the province welcomed the new regulations announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday, including the immediate suspension of the sale of alcohol and the introduction of the curfew at 9pm, adding that these will help in reducing the spread of the pandemic.

Masuku said the province was starting to see the numbers slow down a bit and that all would be done to reduce the mortality rate, which was still “a great worry”.

The peak of the pandemic is expected in mid-August and towards early September, Masuku said, adding that the province was working frantically to ensure that it deals with this eventuality.

The health MEC pointed out that initial modelling had indicated that the province would be the epicentre ahead of others, however, Levels 4 and 5 of the lockdown had assisted in reducing the spread of the disease.

He said considering that the province is highly populated and that it has a high number of informal settlements which are densely populated, it was expected that Gauteng would become the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, Masuku said the province was preparing to deal with the “storm” of the pandemic. “Now we have to play a part to weather the storm,” he added.

He said, however, that the majority of infected persons in the province were starting to recover, adding that when the number of recoveries slowed down at some point it would become a concern.

In the next two to three weeks the number of recoveries is expected to surpass the number of active cases, Masuku said.

He said 3,246 Gauteng public servants have tested positive for Covid-19, including public health care workers and educators.

He added that the province lost “very dedicated” public servants in the department of health, including a cleaner at a health facility in Tshwane, an EMS dispatcher, a young and energetic doctor and an educator.

“These are not just statistics. These are people who have names, who have families and who have friends,” he said, sending his condolences to those who had lost their loved ones to the pandemic.

These deaths, he said, were an indication that “the reality is we are now within the storm”.

Gauteng MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi said of the 2,131 public schools, 1,977 were risk-free, which means they had never had a Covid-19 incident,  with 154 schools that had to be temporarily closed after a case was confirmed and were reopened.

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