South Africa’s Western Cape Province is dealing with a resurgence of COVID-19, as the number of new cases spiked 52.1 percent in the past week, reported CGTN Africa.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said that there will be a cabinet meeting on Friday where there will be a discussion on measures to limit the movement of people as the number of COVID-19 cases increase. The cases had been rising steadily since October and Cape Town had seen more than 2,000 infections in the last seven days.
“The Western Cape government is deeply concerned about the growing number of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in the province, which can now be considered as an established resurgence,” Winde said.
He added that resurgence occurred when the number of active cases increased week-on-week by more than 20 percent.
“There is also now established community transmission of the virus again in this province, which means that it is spreading within communities at a faster rate,” Winde said.
Notably, COVID-19 hospitalizations across South Africa’s Western Cape Province have increased by 63 percent since the start of November. There were 962 hospitalizations in the province, with 183 patients in intensive care units as of Wednesday. The total number of infections crossed 126,362.
Winde said that government would also increase law enforcement visibility to ensure that the people strictly adhere to the COVID-19 regulations. He stressed that the province could go into lockdown again, if the situation continue to deteriorate.
South Africa has reported the highest number of coronavirus infections on the African continent, with over 760,000 confirmed cases and more than 20,000 deaths.
The country is currently holding five national days of mourning to remember those who have lost their lives to COVID-19, gender-based violence and femicide. The five days of mourning began on Wednesday, Nov. 25 and will continue until Nov. 29.
