GARDEN ROUTE DISTRICT NEWS - Concern over the increasing number of active Covid-19 cases in the region formed a significant part of the discussions at a council meeting of the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) last Thursday, 26 November.
In his address to Council, District Mayor Memory Booysen said the Garden Route was one of the regions where Covid-19 positive cases were rising the fastest in the Western Cape.
"By the current trend, we might end up being the fastest rising in the country," he said. He urged everyone to abide by the regulations and "do what we can to stop the spike".
The municipality took precautionary measures and cancelled all its upcoming events - even the launch of 16 Days of Activism and the activities relating to gender-based violence (GBV) programmes.
Booysen said more than 150 local government workers across South Africa have lost their lives due to the pandemic and locally, many are aware of colleagues who are in hospital. "We suspect that they are hospitalised because of comorbidities. Our prayers go out to all of them and members of the public," said Booysen.
He urged the public to travel as little as possible and avoid events where there are a lot of people. "If we do not do this, we will continue to lose loved ones along the way."
Another pandemic
Booysen said the GRDM will continue the activities relating to gender-based violence (GBV) programmes via virtual platforms as far as possible, and urged all municipalities to follow suit.
He said gender-based violence is another pandemic our country still faces. "Every day on the news we hear of new murders, rapes, in particular the killing of women and children. We really need to work together with all the law enforcement operators of the state to curb the GBV pandemic."
Booysen said another council meeting will take place just before the festive season where an update will be given to Council on what has been achieved thus far in terms of safety measures in our region.
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