ALMOST half of the more than 12 000 Covid-19 hospital admissions in the country have been recorded in Gauteng.
The province currently has 7 070 hospital admissions, with 1 267 in ICU and over 600 people clinging to life-support machines, followed by the Western Cape with 1 756 and North West at 894 total admissions.
According to the latest statistics from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), there are currently 8 080 patients admitted at private facilities and 4 479 patients at public facilities. In the past 24 hours 711 hospital admissions have been reported.
#COVID19 UPDATE: A total of 50,932 tests were conducted in the last 24 hrs, with 13,347 new cases, which represents a 26.2% positivity rate. A further 226 #COVID19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 60,264 to date. Read more: https://t.co/U8YX4pysHM pic.twitter.com/PxJm6f49AX
— NICD (@nicd_sa) June 29, 2021
While hospital admissions, almost as high as they were during the height of the first wave in July 2020, acting Minister of Health, Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said despite Gauteng being the epicentre of infections, public hospitals in the province are not under pressure and were coping well.
Speaking during a National Coronavirus Command Council press briefing on Tuesday, Kubayi-Ngubane said: "We are seeing a lot of pressure in the private sector, so far public hospitals are coping well. We can confirm that a meeting has happened between the government and the private sector to ensure overflow between facilities."
Meanwhile, Netcare CEO Dr Richard Friedland, said that they were continuing to bolster response levels and capacity to render assistance to as many patients as possible during the fast-escalating Covid-19 surge, particularly in Gauteng.
“We have substantially increased our Covid-19 bed capacity, contracted more resident medical officers and clinical associates, and made every effort to ensure that we have adequate supplies of oxygen, the appropriate medication, as well as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to last us through this surge,” he said.
As of yesterday, the country recorded 13 347 new Covid-19 cases, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 1 954 466.
The increase represents a 26.2% positivity rate. A further 226 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 60 264 to date.
rudolph.nkgadima@africannewsagency.com