‘Worst is still to come’ as Soweto records highest Covid-19 cases – Makhura

While giving an update on the fight against Covid-19, Gauteng Premier David Makhura confirmed that Soweto has now the highest number of Covid-19 in the province as the Johannesburg metro leads the way.

“Johannesburg is the epicentre with 76,297 number of cases and 970 deaths. Most cases are in region D which is the Soweto area,” the minister said.

Makhura said the provincial government have conducted interventions including law enforcement to be directed to Soweto to ensure that Covid-19 regulations were followed.

The minister said Johannesburg CBD accounted for the second-highest number of Covid-19 cases followed by township Alexandra.

“The province now constitutes 35% of all confirmed cases, we got to this situation in June when we said the Covid-19 storm has arrived in the province.

“We cannot send out a message that we are out of the woods. We don’t want complacency, we must do more as we approach the peak in September,” he said.

Makhura said there was a period in June and July when recoveries dropped to 30%, while as of this week recoveries in the province are at 70%.

“29% are active cases and the fatality rate continues to be just above 1%, a level we have seen for a long time.

“We have gone through a difficult period in the last two months when we lost a lot of people. We also went through a difficult period where our hospitals were bursting at the seams.

“Even in our hotspots, they are running their course, the number of cases are going down. But there are areas where we have new hotspots where infections are going up.

“We are still working on the basis that we may still go through the toughest time of the storm and that the worst is still to come.

“We still have to work very hard despite the decline in the number of infections per day,” he said.

Image: Twitter / @GautengProvince

The minister said Gauteng needed to prepare for what the modelling was suggesting will still happen towards the end of August and in October.

He further said 55% of the people who have died of Covid-19 were male while 45% were females.

“The total number of fatalities in the province so far is 2,388. 65% were between 50 and 79 years old,” he said.

Makhura added that hospital admissions were currently at 4,688.

“The public sector accounts for 2,442 and private hospitals 2,246. With people in ICU and high care units, those on ventilation are 316, oxygen 290 and room air stood at 591,” he continued to say.

Image: Twitter / @GautengProvince

He said out of 172,113 public servants in Gauteng, 5,242 tested positive since March including public health workers and educators.

“We have lost two doctors from Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital and Jubilee Hospital. We send our condolences to family, friends and colleagues of the two doctors.

“Like all other patients, affected staff and their family members are receiving care and treatment. All other staff members who were in contact with those that tested positive have been tested and will continue to follow all protocols to prevent the spread of the virus.

“There is ongoing decontamination of all public buildings regularly as part of the measures to combat the spread of Covid-19,” he added.

The minister also said that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has identified two officials in the Gauteng department of health who allegedly enabled and facilitated large scale corruption in the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE).

He confirmed that one of the officials resigned from the department and the other official was suspended on Friday morning.

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