Western Cape authorities say they have observed a spike in alcohol-related trauma cases, despite a significant decrease in new COVID-19 cases, hospitalisation and deaths.
According to eNCA, Keith Cloete, Head of Department at Western Cape government, said: “what we expect is a plateauing of those cases over Easter. We don’t expect a massive drop of the cases over Easter.”
“But we definitely expect an impact and it’s more of a blunting impact in terms of where it would have had high spikes, that it would be slightly lower and blunted over Easter.”
Every time there is a relaxation of alcohol restrictions, trauma cases increase – sometimes by more than 100%, the report quoted Western Cape Authorities as saying.
This came as Western Cape Premier Alan Winde called on countries that ordered more COVID-19 vaccines than they needed to send them to South Africa.
Debates have been raging over “vaccine apartheid” and “vaccine inequality”, with some countries well stocked, and others not.
“If you have excess, we are very interested. We put our hand up, News24 quoted Winde as saying.
Meanwhile, Winde pleaded with Western Cape residents to stick to the COVID-19 regulations during the Easter weekend.
“Please make sure we stick to the regulations. We understand what we all got to do in playing our part, our own responsibility of staying safe, avoiding crowded areas, making sure we are not helping to spread the COVID-19 virus,” Winde said.
PICTURE: Cape Town etc gallery
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‘Send excess shots to SA,’ Winde tells countries with more vaccines