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Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane has called for vigilance as the province’s Covid19 numbers begin to climb.
He said in a statement on Sunday that the South African Covid-19 Modelling Consortium had indicated that “Buffalo City Metro Municipality has entered the fourth wave.”
He added that all other regions in the Eastern Cape showed a “sustained increase in the number of new infections.”
Mabuyane said according to the latest report, 3 913 new cases were reported this past week compared to 136 new cases the week before.
“The recovery rate has dropped to 93.4%, raising concerns that the fourth wave is nearer,” he said.
The Premier said the latest report also indicated that the number of people requiring hospitalisation due to Covid-19 was still low compared to previous waves.
Of the 291 hospital admissions, 278 patients were in general wards with fewer people requiring oxygen on admission.
“One of our concerns is the fact that those between the ages 20-39 years currently make up 41.8% of hospital admissions compared to the previous waves which largely impacted the elderly,” Mabuyane said.
He also reiterated that vaccination remains the main strategy to prevent severe infections and lower the risk of admissions and death of those infected.
“We are ramping up the vaccination of the target population while ensuring the readiness of health facilities, (providing oxygen and beds for children), increasing testing and screening, (and) community case management,” he said.
