The Western Cape has conducted 25 774 tests
CAPE TOWN – The Western Cape has become the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak in South Africa with 1 608 confirmed cases of the 4 546 positive cases in the country.
Gauteng follows with 1 331 confirmed cases with eight deaths while Kwazulu-Natal has 863 cases and 29 deaths.
“When we started Gauteng province had the highest infection rate but things have shifted with the Western Cape now being the epicentre.
“What we are seeing is a change in the pattern there… there is a cluster outbreak happening in the workplaces that have originally been identified as essential services,” said the Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.
Mkhize added: “So it looks like we have to find additional support to strengthen the response in those areas.
“We’ve also had more people going into getting tested and screened which allows us to target areas where we think there are problems.”
The Western Cape has conducted 25 774 tests, almost double to the test case figure of Gauteng which is currently at 13 558.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said this was a result of the province’s rigorous testing approach.
“The new phased lockdown approach is based on infection data and we will only be able to move down in levels, towards the new normal, when and where infection data is showing stabilisation in the number of new infections.
“That is why it is crucial that across SA we implement a rigorous screening and testing regime and therefore we expect the number of laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 cases to climb in the province,” Winde said.
