Provincial head of Health Dr Keith Cloete says infections have reduced by over 30% in just the last week
A hospital worker and patient with COVID-19 in in the resuscitation room of the COVID-19 ward at Khayelitsha Hospital, about 35km from the centre of Cape Town, on 29 December 2020. Picture: AFP.
CAPE TOWN – As the country’s COVID-19 recovery rate inches towards 87% (on Sunday it was sitting at 86,6%), the Western Cape Health Department said the province’s infection rate continued to drop.
There has been a decrease in the number of active cases, hospitalisation and deaths in the last ten days, following the second peak.
Cases in the province peaked on 7 January, but the number of active cases in the Cape have declined by more than 2,000 in the last two days.
Provincial head of Health Dr Keith Cloete said infections had reduced by over 30% in just the last week.
“Our total number of active cases have come down to 23,000 – that is of a high of 40 000 and therefore in the last seven days, compared to the previous seven days, we’ve had a reduction of 33% of cases.”
On Sunday, 2,987 patients were in hospital, while 393 of them were in ICU.
“That is also significantly lower, because we were close to about 3,700 at the peak. We now have at least 10 days of confirmation of a rapid decline.”
Despite the marked drop, Cloete urged residents to continue adhering to health and safety regulations.
Download the Eyewitness News app to your iOS or Android device.