'Solidly' in 3rd wave, active cases at highest

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The latest Covid-19 statistics of the Western Cape Health Department show that the Garden Route, which is in the peak of the third wave, is experiencing a higher wave than the previous two waves.

Western Cape Head of Health Dr Keith Cloete said the Western Cape is now "solidly" in the third resurgence peak, but with signs of stabilisation in the number of new cases. An average of 3 100 new cases are diagnosed in the province each day.

Speaking in the province's weekly Covid-19 digital conference today, Thursday 12 August, Cloete warned that being at the peak means that the number of active cases is currently the highest of what the province has had at any given time, so the risk of being exposed at gatherings is extremely high. It is crucial that people keep to their "bubble" to avoid exposure to infection.

Garden Route plateauing
Cloete said there are very clear signs of plateauing of the resurgence in the Garden Route and Overberg.

The Garden Route has shown a 2% drop in the daily increase in new cases over the past week and the Overberg a drop of 7%.

Overall, the province's rural districts show a 1% increase in the daily case numbers.

Additional oxygen brought in
An additional 22 tons of oxygen are brought into the Western Cape by tankers per day to supplement the production capacity of the province to meet the demand for hospitalised Covid-19 patients.

Cloete said the combined use of the private and public health sector is 76,99 tons while the Afrox Western Cape plant produces only 75 tons.

The public sector's total average bulk oxygen consumption is 47,06 tons a day.

Use in the province is monitored and no facility has to date run out of supply.

The Garden Route is showing a decline in the number of daily new cases reported.