Cape Town – According to Premier Alan Winde, the Western Cape has passed the peak of its fourth Covid-19 wave.
Winde made the announcement during his weekly digital conference on Thursday.
“I am pleased to announce that the Western Cape has now passed the peak of its fourth wave, and we expect a consistent decline in cases in the weeks ahead.
“While the number of cases and test positivity rate exceeded the second and third wave peak, respectively, hospitalisations were lower, and deaths remained notably low,” he said.
Winde said throughout the fourth wave, the province’s health platforms maintained sufficient capacity to respond, and none of the field hospital wards needed to be reopened.
“Our oxygen usage increases, which is the most robust measure for Covid-19 hospital capacity, did not exceed 50%, which meant that even at our peak we remained on our own lowest trigger level,” he said.
Winde has stated the National State of Disaster must be allowed to expire and called for it to be terminated.
“The national government has had more than enough time to put in place alternative management systems outside of a disaster declaration, and I already called in October last year for a roadmap to be made public that would enable the termination of the disaster now. The public and the economy should not be expected to wait any longer,” Winde said.
He said the way forward was to refocus attention on the country’s second pandemic which cost lives – unemployment.
The province had seen the proportion of positive Covid-19 tests decrease to an average of 52%. Admissions have plateaued, with 225 hospital admissions per day.
Winde said data scientists have received a large import of data on deaths from the National Department of Home Affairs which had been backlogged, totalling 150 deaths.
He said this had increased the daily death average. However, when allocating the deaths by day, over time, the death numbers throughout the fourth wave remained low.
“The Provincial Department of Health’s analysis of the fourth wave shows us that there is a widening in the gap between cases, admissions, and deaths, if we compare the third wave and fourth wave.
“This means that while case numbers and test positivity in this wave have exceeded previous waves, hospital admissions are lower than the previous wave, at 64% of the third wave admissions peak.
“Further, while deaths have increased in the last two weeks, they stand at just 24% of the third wave peak,” Winde said.
He said the success could be attributed to the protection of the Covid-19 vaccine immunity from prior infection, as well as emerging evidence that omicron may be less severe.
“We are discharging patients faster than we are admitting them – showing that hospitalisations are on the decline,” he said.
A week-on-week decrease had been observed in the number of hospital admissions.
Winde said the health sector expected hospitalisations to continue declining in the coming weeks.
He said few deaths had been reported among fully vaccinated individuals during the fourth wave compared to the previous waves.
“This shows that vaccines are highly effective in preventing severe illness and death.
“Please make use of your vaccine opportunity, including your booster shot, should you be eligible.
“This is especially important if you are at high risk of severe Covid-19 disease,” Winde explained.
He said 62.73% of those 50 and older in the Western Cape had been fully vaccinated.
By January 5, 46.62% of the province’s total adult population had been fully vaccinated.
At least one dose of the vaccine had been administered to 53% of the adult population in the province, 49.86% of those eligible have registered for their vaccine and a total of 4 483 167 vaccines have been administered.
As the festive season draws to a close, Winde has urged residents to continue to stay safe and be responsible by continuing to adhere to Covid-19 protocols.
“I would like to thank every person in our province who continues to go above and beyond to keep themselves and others safe. I know it continues to be a difficult time for you and your family, and I really appreciate your efforts.
“I would also like to thank our healthcare workers for their hard work over the last month, especially during a time when many would have spent time with family and friends over the festive season.
“The Western Cape continues to owe you a great debt of gratitude,” he added.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
IOL