Southern Subdistrict COVID-19 update – 18 December 2020

The Southern sub-district in the Cape Metro continues has experienced 76% increase of recorded new COVID-19 infections this past week. It has also been noted that COVID-19 hospital admissions have been rising rapidly. 

Active Cases in the Southern sub-district have now exceeded their first wave levels of active infections and are as follows:

• Rapid Outbreak: Grassy Park, Lotus River, Retreat, Rondebosch, Ottery, Wynberg, Claremont, Masiphumelele, Steenberg and Plumstead.    
• Ongoing Outbreak: Ocean View, Kenilworth and Mowbray, Pelikan Park and Fish Hoek.

 New cases in the Southern subdistrict in the Metropole over the last 14 days:

The subdistrict also recorded 12 new deaths over the last seven days. 

PLEASE ADHERE TO ISOLATION

We appeal to all citizens to adhere to isolation, if you:

• Have tested positive for Covid-19
• Have Covid-19 symptoms
• Have Covid-19 symptoms and are waiting for your test results
• Have had close contact with someone who has tested positive. 

To reduce the infection rate, the Western Cape Government Health COVID-19 Contact Tracing Teams are following-up on all new positive COVID-19 cases and tracing all close contacts of each infected person to ensure that the 10-day isolation period is adhered to and supported. This process forms part of the overall COVID-19 surveillance system in the Western Cape in identifying flare ups and can activate a local response team.

The team has expressed great concern as not all patients are isolating.  Based on feedback, patients have left home for reasons such as:

• Visiting shopping centres as they don’t have anyone else to assist with shopping
• visiting family members
• attending social events
• dropping their kids at school
• working
• having church services with a few congregation members at their home
• shopping at a mall because they don’t have anyone else to assist with shopping

In addition, incorrect contact details provided by the patients have made contact tracing and follow up difficult in some cases. 

KEEP SEPARATE FROM OTHERS FOR 10 DAYS

• If you have symptoms: stop separation 10 days after your symptoms started.
• If you have no symptoms, stop separation 10 days after your last contact with someone with COVID-19 or 10 days after you had a COVID-19 test.
• Discuss with a healthcare provider when to stop if your test was negative or if you are unwell at 10 days.

Our behaviour will be influenced once we acknowledge and accept that the virus is not gone but will be with us over the holidays and beyond. Therefore, we need to remain safe and protect each other by isolating safely where needed and in all instances we need to remain safe and protect each other by:

• Wearing a mask properly as this is of life-saving importance. You must always wear your masks when outside of your home. There can be no exceptions.
• You must avoid crowded and confined spaces at all costs. This is where super-spreader events take place.
• You must urgently reconsider hosting all non-essential gatherings of people this year, especially indoor gatherings with poor ventilation. 
• You must ensure there is always good ventilation whenever you’re in public. The virus droplets spread by air in confined spaces, and so fresher is better.
• You must wash your hands regularly with soap and water or use sanitiser.
• If you feel sick, you should not leave your home unless it is to get healthcare treatment. You must first call our hotline on 080 928 4102 for guidance on the next steps.
• You should also not visit someone who is sick, and find other ways to provide support, like delivering a meal to a neighbour’s doorstep.