Gauteng changes hotspot strategy as COVID-19 hits townships

Gauteng Premier David Makhura says the province has shifted to a ward-based approach in its hotspot management.

The province accounts for 3 329 of South Africa’s 27 403 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 31 deaths.

Increase in Gauteng’s hotspots

Three of its municipalities have been identified by national government as hotspots and, during the Gauteng Command Council address on Friday, Makhura said the West Rand has been added to the number. The other hotspots in the area are Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

This is after the spike in coronavirus cases reported in the mining sector over the past week.

“The mining sector has contributed 21% of the new cases that have occurred in our province in the last eight days.

David Makhura, Gauteng Premier

Makhura says the command council has met with the mining houses in the municipality, and 200 contacts have been traced in the area.

“In the suburbs, it was easy to self-isolate, but we had to do lots of contact-tracing and ensure that those contacts are isolating.”

David Makhura, Gauteng Premier

The shifting geography of hotspots

According to Makhura, the spread of the coronavirus to the townships has necessitated a change in its hotspot management strategy.

“Once an area is designated as a hotspot, it doesn’t mean it will be a hotspot forever. It depends on the intervention in place.”

David Makhura, Gauteng Premier

The province has enhanced its hotspot strategy to go beyond just testing, tracing and quarantining because of the changing geography.

“We have teams at ward level. Every day, when we receive information announced by the minister, we now look at those numbers and break them down into the number of people in every ward and in every community.”

David Makhhura, Gauteng Premier

Makhura says this is to get a better view of what has happened in each community. He added that the ward-based teams dispatched to the communities are multi-disciplinary and include the Cuban medical specialists who landed in the country earlier in the month.

“We have been establishing these ward-based teams in the past seven days to manage the next phase of the pandemic’s trajectory and projection, especially in the areas that have high-density. It would not be easy to cope by using the strategy we had been using before.”

David Makhhura, Gauteng Premier

Gauteng geared up for infection peak

According to projections, peak infection rate is set to hit South Africa around August.

This means that there will be a demand for beds and ventilatiors.

As things stand in Gauteng, the number of COVID-19 patients currently hospitalised is 203, with 30 in the public sector. Only five are in intensive care, requiring ventilators.

Makhura also revealed that the a total of 8 301 beds available across both sectors.