Western Cape Health COVID-19 Platform Status Update - 25 June 2020

Hospitalisation

There are currently 1619 patients admitted in both the public and private sector facilities of which 262 patients admitted to ICU or High Care. To date, we have had 56 345 confirmed cases and 39 475 recoveries.

Deaths

From the data available on 25 June we have also had 1619 deaths. The subdistricts with the highest number of cases were:

Quarantine and Isolation

We have admitted a total of 3177 people since the start of the pandemic, with currently 1006 people in isolation and quarantine in both Metro and Rural facilities

Intermediate Care facilities (“Field Hospitals”)

As at 24^th June we have admitted 230 inpatients since opening CTICC,  and discharged 176. The Brackengate facility has 338 beds (10^th July is first projected patient admission date]. The Thusong Centre, Khayelitsha has 60 beds commissioned – it has admitted 25 patients as at 24 June 2020; 63 patients discharged since opening.

Cape Winelands, Sonstraal Hospital  has a total of 150 beds  planned, with phase one scheduled for handover at the end of June, 63 beds).

Rural has plans for additional beds: 32 Hermanus; 20 in Vredendal; 20 in George;.

The additional IC beds have had a significantly positive impact on the acute hospitals and have relieved the pressure in our acute hospitals such that the occupancy in our acute hospitals is still manageable

Health system update

Testing and Triage Centres

The Western Cape Government continues to open new testing and triage centres across the province. We currently have 19 of these facilities operational, including 4 facilities outside of the Metro (Paarl, George, Worcester and Ceres).

Further to this, some 24 testing and triage facilities will be opened in rural areas of the Western Cape

Healthcare Worker status in the Public Sector

As at 26 June 2020

Since the start of the pandemic we have had 3119 confirmed cases; 2272 recoveries; Sadly, a total of 27 deaths have been reported.

(Health care worker deaths are pending further data verifications. Although the Department has very accurate information of public sector, the private sector information is sometimes slow to reach us.)

Staff categories of deaths in the Public Health sector:

Protecting our health force

While being extremely proud of our health workers, The Western Cape Government Health remains deeply concerned about their health and safety at work. The Department also understands and recognizes the anxiety of all health care workers as we face the unprecedented threat of this global pandemic. During this difficult time, it remains crucial that we take care of our health staff who need to take care of the most vulnerable sick people in our health system. While it may not be possible to guarantee a zero risk to frontline staff, it is important that all efforts are made to ensure safety.

Testing

Currently the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) backlog has been eliminated and we are thankful for the response of the NHLS to achieve this.

A decreased demand (due to the provincial testing criteria being amended) has resulted in significantly improved turn-around times. The following additional testing capacity has also been brought on-line:

1. Accessing the private sector labs through the NHLS as well as directly 
2. Additional testing through the Universities
3. Additional testing through accreditation of additional labs in the province

Of particular importance is the ability of the province to speed up the tests of healthcare workers and we will investigate further resources in this regard.

The use of steroids in treatment:

The use of steroids has been approved for use on our clinical platform in line with international recommendations and the MAC recommendations. This will have a positive impact on the clinical outcomes of patients infected with Covid-19. These steroids will be used for ventilated patients and those on high flow nasal oxygen.

The use of oxygen:

Oxygen has shown to have a significantly positive impact on the clinical outcomes of patients, and we are using oxygen in our facilities to manage ill patients. An oxygen calculator has been developed that facilities can use to access their daily oxygen requirements. We have also adopted a predictive model that shows that our current average consumption is 12 tons a day and at the peak will require approximately 40 tons of oxygen daily. We have engaged with suppliers, and we have been assured of this supply.

Shielding the vulnerable:

We have seen higher hospitalisations and death rates and we are anticipating and planning for a further increase in demand in our services. We urge all citizens to remain careful in observing the essential 5 Golden Rules of hygiene and safety. It remains important to take particular care of persons with underlying conditions and particularly Diabetes, who are at significantly increased risk of severe COVID-19. We urge these people to really take special care and to shield themselves from exposure where possible.

The protection of our most vulnerable loved ones remains in our collective hands.

ENDS