Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has called on the national
government to move the entire province to Alert Level 3 of lockdown in
conjunction with their targeted hotspot plan.
This follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that
by the end of May most areas in the country will be placed on Level 3, except
for areas with high infection rates – may however have to remain on Level 4.
The Western Cape is currently the epicentre* of the corona
virus with more than half of South Africa’s 12,074 recorded infections and altogether
117 deaths occurring in the province, as of Wednesday 13 May.
However, Winde says the Western Cape has adopted a data-led,
evidence-based approach to the Covid-19 response, with targeted All of
Government interventions in hotspots.
“These hotspots are not whole provinces or even districts.
They are geographical areas where people live, down to street-level. This is
the plan that we presented to the National Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize
on Saturday, and which had already been adopted by our cabinet,” said Winde in
a statement.
He has welcomed the fact that the targeted hotspot plan has also
been adopted by national government, as revealed by the President.
“With our health care system prepared, it is simply no
longer possible to maintain Level 4 restrictions anywhere in the Western Cape
or South Africa. The economic crisis caused by these restrictions has resulted
in a life-threatening humanitarian disaster that will only worsen in the months
ahead,” Winde said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will not visit the Western Cape
this week as scheduled after Premier Alan Winde was quarantined as a
precautionary measure.
Winde had recently been in close quarters with eNCA
cameraman Lungile Tom whose death from COVID-19 was confirmed on 13 May.
The Premier is now cloistered in his home and will remain
there until next week scuttling the planned visit of the president.
*The provincial Head of Health, Dr Keith Cloete had
previously refuted the notorious title of being the epicentre by citing the
province’s deliberate strategy of identifying “hotspots” of local transmissions
and then establishing a network of cases through their intensified screening and
testing programme.
