Cape Town - Premier Alan Winde continues to call for the end of the National State of Disaster as the Western Cape officially exits the fourth wave.
The province continued to report a notable drop in the number of daily new Covid-19 infections, hospital admissions and Covid-19 test positivity rates and deaths.
In a statement released on Friday, Winde said the number of new daily cases reported was now at 588, based on the 7-day moving average.
On average, the province is reporting 98 new Covid-19 related hospital admissions per day, and 19 daily deaths, a decline from 31 deaths based on a 7-day moving average last week.
“According to the technical definition, we will have exited our fourth wave when new infections are 15% of the peak or 600 cases. New case numbers have now dipped below 600 new cases based on a 7-day moving average,” Winde said.
“It is now time that we exit the National State of Disaster too. The decrease in deaths and hospital admissions recorded during the fourth wave, coupled with the increased rates of protection among residents shows us that the virus is reaching an endemic stage.”
Due to the province having sufficient capacity, it announced that it will be decommissioning the Mitchells Plain Hospital of Hope.
About 2 402 064 (48.26%) of the adult population in the province has been fully vaccinated, as of Thursday, with a total of 4 687 489 vaccines administered.
The Western Cape Government Covid-19 Dashboard reported 9 606 active infections, 644 714 confirmed cases with 613 627 recoveries as at Friday 1pm. The province reported 21 481 Covid-19 related deaths.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported 3 601 630 laboratory-confirmed cases as of Saturday, with 94 905 Covid-19 fatalities.
“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of Covid-19 mortality cases reported,” NICD senior communications manager, Sinenhlanhla Jimoh said in a statement.
The Western Cape continues to be the second highest contributor of daily new Covid-19 cases, nationwide.
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za