The Western Cape government announced on Thursday it had adopted a three-pronged approach to contain the Covid-19 resurgence being experienced in the province.
Cape Town – The Western Cape government announced on Thursday it had adopted a three-pronged approach to contain the Covid-19 resurgence in the province.
Premier Alan Winde made the announcement during his weekly digicon. This comes after his Presidential Coordinating Council (PCC) meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Winde used Wednesday’s PCC meeting to argue against a lockdown being imposed on the province, and in favour of targeted, local interventions based on scientific evidence.
Winde said the next 30 days were going to be critical for the Western Cape and the containment of the province’s resurgence, andthey would rely more on law enforcement to enforce the existing level 1 lockdown restrictions.
“Given the rapid growth of cases being experienced in the Western Cape, doing nothing and just letting the virus spread at its current pace is not an option.
“We have to intervene in innovative ways that slows the spread, protects those at highest risk and ensures that our health system has the capacity to provide care to everyone who needs it,” Winde said.
He explained the three-pronged approach to contain the Covid-19 resurgence as:
“Together these three pillars are the best way to roll back the resurgence, while keeping our economy as open as possible. This is how we intend to save both lives and livelihoods,” he said.
The Western Cape’s health response will include:
- Increased surveillance of Covid-19 outbreaks, through testing of cases in hot spot areas, contact-tracing, daily huddles to understand reasons for spread, and expert analysis of data and trends.The scaling up of health platform’s capacity to manage the increased burden on provincial hospitals, with key trigger points for the addition of new intermediate, acute and critical-care capacity, so that enough beds are always available.Ensuring a core level of essential services in the health system, and starting preparations for a careful, planned reduction in comprehensive health services in hot spots to ensure adequate capacity for a potential surge of cases.Obtaining sufficient personal protective equipment to protect all front line staff and ensuring the mental well-being of health-care workers.Using technology to track Covid-19 infections in high-risk individuals, such as those with diabetics, to reduce the number of deaths.
The Western Cape government’s behaviour change response includes:
- Increased surveillance of Covid-19 outbreaks, through testing of cases in hot spot areas, contact-tracing, daily huddles to understand reasons for spread, and expert analysis of data and trends.The scaling up of health platform’s capacity to manage the increased burden on provincial hospitals, with key trigger points for the addition of new intermediate, acute and critical-care capacity, so that enough beds are always available.Ensuring a core level of essential services in the health system, and starting preparations for a careful, planned reduction in comprehensive health services in hot spots to ensure adequate capacity for a potential surge of cases.Obtaining sufficient personal protective equipment to protect all front line staff and ensuring the mental well-being of health-care workers.Using technology to track Covid-19 infections in high-risk individuals, such as those with diabetics, to reduce the number of deaths.
The Western Cape’s all-of-government enforcement response includes:
- Increased surveillance of Covid-19 outbreaks, through testing of cases in hot spot areas, contact-tracing, daily huddles to understand reasons for spread, and expert analysis of data and trends.The scaling up of health platform’s capacity to manage the increased burden on provincial hospitals, with key trigger points for the addition of new intermediate, acute and critical-care capacity, so that enough beds are always available.Ensuring a core level of essential services in the health system, and starting preparations for a careful, planned reduction in comprehensive health services in hot spots to ensure adequate capacity for a potential surge of cases.Obtaining sufficient personal protective equipment to protect all front line staff and ensuring the mental well-being of health-care workers.Using technology to track Covid-19 infections in high-risk individuals, such as those with diabetics, to reduce the number of deaths.
The premier, in line with this three-pronged approach, listed how provincial government departments would work together to prevent new infections of Covid-19.
“Over the next month, we need every person in the province to dig deep and to give one big push, by returning to the behavioural changes that we have all learnt this year.
“If over the next 30 days we can get this right, we can keep our economy open, and ensure that there are enough hospital beds for each person who needs one, when they need one, regardless of their illness,” Winde said
Cape Argus
