Virus fears have overcrowded townships on a knife edge
The news that the sprawling township of Khayelitsha has its first coronavirus case has sparked anxiety that infections in similar areas – where conditions are often dire – could cripple an already strained health system.
Soweto residents outside Dobsonville Mall in Johannesburg, 30 March 2020, on the fourth day of national shutdown in South Africa. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
The first case of Covid-19 in Khayelitsha, one of South Africa’s largest and most densely populated townships, has raised fears of an explosion that could overwhelm the health system.
With 310 Covid-19 cases to date, Western Cape has the second highest number of infections after Gauteng, which has become the epicentre of the virus in the country with more than 545 cases, including six healthcare workers.
There are fears that the virus could spread exponentially if it were to hit Gauteng’s townships such as Alexandra, Soshanguve and Mamelodi, which are densely populated and some have sprawling informal settlements.
Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku has said that the number of infections could change and that there was extensive testing for Covid-19 at private laboratories.
The department yesterday confirmed there were five people in Alexandra who were under quarantine after being in close contact with a confirmed case. The confirmed case was traced to Limpopo and had apparently disregarded an instruction and travelled outside of the province last week before the lockdown.
ALSO READ: Khayelitsha woman who tested positive in isolation as health ‘deteriorates’
Social distancing is a novel idea in such areas, where up to 10 people share a single living space, and there is crumbling infrastructure due to overcrowding, resulting in water supply disruption and sewerage flowing in the streets.
Dr Angelique Coetzee, chairperson of the SA Medical Association, yesterday said: “[We are] very concerned with bleak outcomes. We will not be able to handle a large number of infected patients in a short time … that’s why President Cyril Ramaphosa is trying to keep people off the streets.”
However, she conceded that such living conditions defeated the purpose of keeping people off the streets during the ongoing lockdown announced by Ramaphosa to contain and stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Coetzee said this was why the health department was considering converting halls and other public facilities into quarantine centres.
Of grave concern with the Khayelitsha Covid-19 case was that the woman who tested positive was apparently renting a room in Nkanini, the large and densely populated section of the sprawling township.
Institute for Race Relations council member and Khayelitsha resident Unathi Kwaza said: “Nkanini is the worst part of Khayelitsha, probably the biggest and most populated, and people live under terrible conditions.
“What we know is that the woman socialised widely before becoming ill and, in such a densely populated area, where do you start tracing those she came into contact with? She has been in a taxi, the people that were in that taxi are elsewhere.”
She said the Western Cape government was not prepared and would hardly cope with potential rapid spread of the Covid-19 in the township and that the worse part was that people have nowhere to go if they came into contact with an infected person.
About 400,000 people live in 43.51 square kilometers in Khayelitsha, with a wide mix of poor and middle class and, in 2014, about half of the 118,000 households were living in informal dwellings.
Western Cape premier Alan Winde has conceded that the province would have a big problem if they fail to trace people who came into contact with the patient, which he agreed was a mammoth task considering the number of people she might have had contact with in the last week.
“It would be a long, long list and there were many people running around, going through that list. It is not easy. You’ve got to work it down to a taxi, what time was it and [people] cannot remember what taxi it was. It is pretty hectic,” he told radio station CapeTalk yesterday.
By Sunday, the Western Cape had recorded 310 Covid-19 infections, with five of these in Mitchells Plain, with 14 currently hospitalised. Three are in intensive care.
The number of Covid-19 cases in the country had risen to 1,326 by Monday night, with three recorded deaths.
– siphom@citizen.co.za
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
