The Western Cape’s healthcare system is ready for the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Head of Health, Dr. Keith Cloete says the system is, like with the previous waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, ready to react should there be a drastic increase in hospitalizations.
Cloete says the capacity that has been built in the healthcare system, over the past 2 years, can easily be re-activated should the need arise.

He spoke to ENCA and says all systems are in place to deal with the expected 5th wave.

Cloete says the sudden increase in Covid-19 infections, recorded in the past few days, should not be a cause for alarm.

This past weekend, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said the country’s test-positivity rate reached the 22% mark, with Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape recording the majority of new infections.

Cloete says newer versions of the Omicron variant are responsible for this surge in new infections.

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The Western Cape Health Department says evidence, from the fourth wave, again shows that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is less cumbersome than previous variants.

Head of Health, Dr. Keith Cloete says previous Covid-19 infection and vaccination may have lead to the lower incidence of deaths and severe disease in the fourth wave.

Cloete says risk for hospital admission, when infected with Omicron, had dropped by 1.4%, when compared to Delta-infection.

Access the latest Western Cape Covid-19 digital conference here.

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The Western Cape Health Department says data shows that up to 90% of the province’s adult population already had protection against Covid-19 before the onset of the fourth wave.

Head of Health, Dr. Keith Cloete says sero-prevalence data shows a large majority of adults have had Covid-19 anti-bodies present in their blood.

Cloete says this may explain the low levels of hospitalizations and deaths, seen in the current wave of the pandemic.

Access the latest Western Cape Covid-19 digital conference here.

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The Western Cape Health Department says the province is nearing the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Head of Health, Dr. Keith Cloete says there has been a marked resurgence in infections over the past two weeks.

The majority of South Africa’s new infections have been reported in Gauteng (72% of infections), while the Western Cape currently constitutes 7% of the national case load.

Cloete urges residents, who have not yet been vaccinated, to go for their injection as soon as possible.

Watch this week’s full Western Cape Covid-19 digital conference here.

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Western Cape Head of Health, Dr. Keith Cloete says there has been a worrying decrease in the uptake of Covid-19 vaccines among residents.

Cloete says vaccinations have dropped from an average of almost 200,000 injections administered per week, to just more than 100,000 doses administered on a weekly basis.

In excess of 3.7-million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have, to date, been administered across the Western Cape.

Access this week’s Western Cape Covid-19 digital conference here.

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