Alcohol abuse taking away Covid-19 hospital beds in Western Cape – Winde

With another 53 people dead from the coronavirus, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde warned the recent back-to-booze spike in trauma cases could be taking beds away from people who need treatment for the virus.

“Your grandmother, brother or sister could become ill with Covid-19 and require a hospital bed. Every single one of us has a role to play in making sure our healthcare system has the capacity to respond – please drink responsibly and play your part,” said Winde.

“If this doesn’t happen, we will have no choice but to explore alternative steps to ensure that this happens.”

The province has, as of 13.00pm on 9 June, 12,250 active Covid-19 cases, with 33,892 confirmed cases, and 20,791 recoveries.

Of those, 1,156 people are in hospital and 220 in intensive care units or high care.

In the province, 851 people had died of the virus.

On Monday, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said there were 50,879 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country and that on Monday, the Western Cape recorded 33,568 – 66% of all national cases.

The number of tests conducted in the Western Cape was 211,177. The national health department said on Monday 943,059 tests had been conducted cumulatively.

*Note: Due to different reporting times, provincial statistics will differ from national statistics by a few cases on a given day.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.