The Western Cape has 11 599 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 38 000 confirmed cases as of 1pm today [June 12]. The number of recoveries is now at 25 435.
Unfortunately the province has recorded an additional 39 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths to 966.
“We send our condolences to their loved ones at this time.”said Premier Alan Winde.
The number of deaths has been updated since the data was loaded on the provincial dashboard earlier today.
A breakdown of the confirmed cases are as follows:
Unallocated: 4150 (1564 recovered). More data is available by clicking here.
Message to healthcare workers:
“As we near the peak of our infection in the Western Cape, the role of healthcare workers and other important frontline staff becomes even more important. I would like to send a message to all of our healthcare workers and frontline staff – our doctors and nurses, and all the people who contribute towards ensuring that our
health care services are functioning each and every day- the technicians, lab assistants, porters, and the cleaning, catering and admin. Your commitment and dedication are helping to save lives and we thank you all for your service to the people of this province.” said Winde.
Since the start of the pandemic, there has been 2118 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in healthcare workers. Of these, 1235 have recovered, and 648 are currently active cases. Unfortunately 11 healthcare workers have lost their lives to COVID-19.
“Healthcare workers are on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, and so we have put in place a number of measures to ensure that their risk of infection is minimised. These include developing policies and guidelines for workplace safety, providing PPE in line with their risk profiles and we have also developed a risk tool for
vulnerable staff which ensures that staff are graded according to their risk profile so that they can be assigned lower risk tasks.” said Winde.
“We have also ensured that healthcare workers have been prioritised for testing under the risk adjusted testing strategy, and for flu vaccines. Our Red Dot Taxi service has also been developed to safely transport healthcare workers who are traveling at night.”
The Western Cape Government calls on all of its residents to help healthcare workers. The biggest contribution residents can make is by playing their role in flattening the curve. Simple behaviour changes can have a huge impact on the healthcare systems and in turn, the healthcare workers.
Stay at home wherever possible and abide by the alert level three regulations. Hygiene measures such as hand washing and keeping your surroundings clean, whether at home or at work are also important. Always wear a mask when you leave home and keep a distance of 1.5 metres from other people.
“If every person does this, the province will be able to slow the spread of COVID-19 and reduce the pressure on the healthcare systems and the men and women working in the various health facilities,” said Winde.
Image: Pexles