WHILE the lockdown has been dropped to Level 2, the number of Covid-19-related deaths in the Northern Cape has almost tripled since the beginning of this month.
The Minister of Health announced on Monday night an additional three deaths in the Province, all from the Sol Plaatje municipal area.
This brought the total number of deaths in the Northern Cape due to Covid-19 to 97.
At the beginning of this month, on August 1, there were 36 deaths recorded in the Province.
In the last week alone, from Monday, August 10 to Monday, August 18, there have been 39 deaths form Covid-19 in the Province.
The number of positive cases has also shot up by more than 3 000 in the last 17 days, from 4 961 on August 1, to 8 021 by Monday evening.
In the last week alone, there were 1 219 additional positive cases recorded.
Currently there are 3 194 active cases in the Province with 4 728 people having recovered (a recovery rate of 60%). At the beginning of this month, there were 3 404 active cases, with 1 517 recoveries from the virus.
According to the MEC for Health in the Northern Cape, Maruping Lekwene, the Province is only expected to reach its Covid-19 peak next month.
Lekwene said during a media briefing last week that the Province was ready for the expected peak and had been taking lessons from other provinces which had already entered the storm.
“The prediction is that the storm will be in the middle, towards the end of September. We have received confirmation from all districts in the Province that they are in a position to respond during the expected peak,” said Lekwene at the time.
According to the MEC, the Province has almost 3 000 beds ready and is working on increasing that number to 4 000, while it has 65 intensive care unit (ICU) beds available.
