Author: Marlene Nqumse

5 August 2020

As of 1pm on 5 August, the Western Cape has 9652 active cases of COVID-19, with a total of 96 446 confirmed cases and 83 529 recoveries.

Cape Metro Sub-districts:

Sub-districts:

Unallocated: 5525 (4837 recovered)

Data note: It is not always possible to check and verify that the address data supplied for each new recorded case is correct, within the time frames required to provide regular and timely updates. This means that in some instances, cases could be allocated to the wrong sub-districts. We are working with the sub-districts to clean and verify the data and where errors are picked up locally, cases will be re-allocated to the correct areas.

More data is available here: https://coronavirus.westerncape.gov.za/covid-19-dashboard

The Western Cape has recorded an additional 29 deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the province to 3265.  We send our condolences to the loved ones of all the deceased at this time.

Stellenbosch testing and triage centre opens:

Today, Health Minister Nomafrench Mbombo opened the new testing and triage centre in Stellenbosch. This is one of 26 of these facilities which have already been completed across the province, with others still under construction. These centres allow hospitals to separate testing and triage from their other healthcare activities. While the province has seen a decline in the number of new cases in certain areas, these centres will still be play an important role in testing in the coming months as we expect the virus to be around for many more months.

Minister Mbombo also visited Kayamandi for a community activation aimed at sharing information with community members to help slow the spread.

In addition to the testing centre, work on the first phase of of the Sonstraal hospital in Paarl is well under way, with the first 63 additional beds due to come online on 10 August

The Cape Winelands District Municipality has recorded a total of 10984 infections and 9526 recoveries-a recovery rate of over 85%.

I am also pleased to see the increased uptake in the use of quarantine and isolation facilities in the Cape Winelands district over the past few weeks-almost doubling from 29% to 57%. These facilities are an important tool in slowing the spread, creating a safe and comfortable space for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 to isolate or for those who are direct contacts of a positive case, to quarantine. These facilities are especially important if you share your home with anyone who might be high risk- such as an elderly parent, or a loved one with an underlying illness.

I call on all residents in this region to work with us to ensure that we are able to slow the spread, save more lives and ensure that we do not have a second wave of infections.

The Cape Winelands is an important farming region in the Western Cape, contributing significantly to our economy, to job creation and to food security in the province. We therefore encourage all businesses to take the necessary precautions to ensure that their staff are kept safe. Slowing the spread of this virus will also allow for more areas of our economy to open up, so that we can avoid the second unemployment pandemic.

Further information on the historical deaths reported yesterday:

Yesterday, the Western Cape reported 93 additional deaths- with the majority of these being historical deaths which have now been correctly allocated as COVID-19 deaths. These deaths did not occur in hospitals, and as such, our Department of Health may not have picked up a COVID-19 positive result.

These deaths were recorded as follows:

4 deaths in May

33 deaths in June

16 deaths in July

and 8 deaths in August.

The Western Cape has been working closely with the NICD, using sophisticated, integrated systems to cross reference excess reported deaths to determine if they are COVID-19 related in order to ensure that our records are as accurate as possible. As we continue with these processes, we will continue to keep residents informed.

MEDIA RELEASE BY DAVID MAYNIER

WESTERN CAPE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Date: 04 August 2020

Release: immediately

Improved operations at the Port of Cape Town welcomed

The efficient and effective performance of the Port of Cape Town is critical to economic recovery and growth for the Western Cape however, ongoing operational challenges have resulted in poor service levels that are impacting our economy in the Western Cape.

The Covid-19 pandemic has further aggravated the situation to such a degree that three major shipping lines cancelled calls to Cape Town or implemented a Cape Town congestion surcharge.

This required urgent action and interventions, and I am pleased to confirm that through ongoing engagements between ourselves and the Transnet Port Terminals management, and considerable effort by all stakeholders in the port logistics chain, we have in recent weeks seen some welcome developments.

Mr. Velile Dube was appointed as the new CEO of Transnet Port Terminals, a crew of 20 staff members were brought in from the Port of Durban to temporarily assist and the Port of Cape Town received four new straddle cranes.

While the additional staff returned to the Port of Durban last week, there has been a consistent effort to contain Covid-19 infections and, with the assistance of the provincial Department of Health and the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, this has enabled a number of key personnel to return to work maintaining the six-gang operation. And plans to introduce a seventh gang are underway.

The result is that:

• the average container moves per day has increased from 533 in the week of 25 May, to 1 179 last week; and
• the period for berthing of vessels at anchor has reduced from 20 days to 1 day.

On Friday (31 July 2020) a vessel docked after waiting only one day, and yesterday a vessel berthed on the day of arrival. This is a significant improvement, and if this performance is sustained during next week and beyond, would mean that the shipping lines could possibly re-install calls to the Port of Cape Town by the second week of August.

There is still much work to be done. And so, in addition to our existing efforts, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism have recently approved a project to integrate data from all fruit packhouses in the Western Cape into a decision-support tool that identifies the best days, times and routes for optimal delivery of containers for export in order to ease congestion in the container terminal.

And through the department’s Red Tape Reduction Unit, we will continue to investigate additional interventions to reduce the cost of doing business in the Port of Cape Town.

Furthermore, I look forward to engaging with the Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, and the Transnet management team to implement the permanent structural changes needed to make the Port of Cape Town a globally competitive port.

Notes for media:
Please find soundbyte from Minister David Maynier attached

To read the statement online visit: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/news/improved-operations-port-cape-town-welcomed

Media Queries:

Francine Higham

Spokesperson for the Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities

(Responsible for the Provincial Treasury and the Department of Economic Development and Tourism)

Tel: 021 483 4327 / Cell: 071 087 5150

Email: francine.higham@westerncape.gov.za

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