Health Dept: Western Cape sees a 42% weekly increase of new COVID-19 cases

The Western Cape Health Department on Thursday said there’s been a 42% weekly increase in new COVID-19 infections.

This was recorded over a two-week period from late November to Wednesday.

There are now more than 10,000 active cases in the province.

Cape Town and the Garden Route remain areas of concern as infections continue to rise.

Head of health Dr Keith Cloete said a week ago the positivity rate was at 16% – it’s now sitting at over 20%.

He said the number of COVID-19 cases was starting to match levels last seen in mid-May, which was the first initial surge in the province.

Cloete added there’d been a rapid increase in hospitalisations in the public and private sector.

“Our local teams need to be on high alert for local response to clusters. There’s now a big need for target enforcement and behaviour change.”

As of Wednesday, more than 1,200 people have had to be hospitalized.

“We’ve had more admissions in the Garden Route this time around than in the first surge. We are also seeing an increase in the metro now ticking up.”

He said that with the rise in cases, the number of deaths was also going up.

The number of fatalities has increased from 87 to 152 in the space of just a few days.

-EWN

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