Cape Town - The Western Cape has breached the 10 000 active cases of Covid-19 mark, with the surge pointing towards the anticipated fifth wave.
The province recorded 10 780 active cases, 690 315 confirmed cases, with 657 561 recoveries as at 1pm on Tuesday.
About 16 896 reinfections have occurred in the province.
To date, 21 974 people have died due to Covid-19-related illness.
Provincial Health and Wellness Department spokesperson Mark van der Heever said while the province is seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases, Covid-19-related hospitalisations and deaths remain low.
Van der Heever said the department would soon be able to provide a clearer picture on its data, as it will be reviewing its seven days of uninterrupted data. Previous weeks had public holidays which could skew the picture.
“As has been evident throughout the Covid-19-pandemic, predicting when and how a particular wave will happen is fluid, and is impacted by many factors. The severity of the impact of this wave is also not clear just yet. What we do know is that vaccination, along with natural immunity, provides us with greater protection,” Van der Heever said.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported 58 576 active cases of the virus, with the number of laboratory confirmed cases nationwide reaching 2 247 555, as at May 7. The test positivity rate had reached 31.1% on Saturday.
Associate professor and consultant virologist at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Complex of the National Health Laboratory Service Dr Marvin Hsiao said, in his opinion, we are in the fifth wave.
Dr Hsiao said various metrics are pointing towards an increase in Covid-19 cases, which could potentially be the start of the fifth wave.
Given the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Gauteng and most other provinces, the country would know whether it has entered a fifth wave in this week or next.
“Currently, health platforms are on alert but no major mitigation measures have been implemented. With a high level of prior infection/vaccination rates, we are expecting the decoupling of cases and severe disease/hospitalisation. Nonetheless, it is a good time to get the booster,” Dr Hsiao said.
Physician-scientist and Desmond Tutu HIV Centre director Professor Linda-Gail Bekker said it does look like a new surge is taking off.
“I think the message must be that if people are not vaccinated, they should get vaccinated. Vaccines protect against severe disease and that’s what we can avoid by getting vaccinated. It seems that is our best biomedical and behavioural defence, and avoiding serious illness, is the most important thing to do,” said Professor Bekker.
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za