The Premier of the Eastern Cape Province, Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane said the provincial government remains committed to deliver a knockout blow to the COVID-19 virus to end its reign of terror that has claimed 11 355 lives of the residents of the province and caused a devastating impact on the economy.
Mabuyane said over the past couple of months the province saw a glimmer of hope showing that an end to the terror of the pandemic could be achieved.
We have witnessed a sustained decline of new Covid-19 cases in February and March. What has worked wonders for us in particular has been the mandatory wearing of masks in public places, the enforcement of social distancing measures and the limitations on the number of people who attend gatherings. We are encouraged by the significant decline in Covid-19 related deaths and hospitalization numbers. This has considerably reduced stress in our health system,” said Mabuyane.
He said in the last 24 hours from 30 March 2021, no death was reported in the province and that in the current month, there are fewer SARS-Cov-2 cases and related deaths but a higher case fatality rate of 8.5%.
There are currently 98 patients admitted for Covid-19 illnesses in our province, 48 patients are in public healthcare facilities and 50 are in private healthcare facilities. This huge reduction in the number of admitted Covid-19 patients is allowing the department of health space to focus on revitalizing interventions to contain and manage other priority diseases,” he said.
Mabuyane said the provincial government continues to conduct Covid-19 tests and in the last 31 days, 16 000 Covid-19 tests were conducted with the National Laboratory Health Services reporting 82% of the test results within 24 hours, and over 90% tests were received within 48 hours, something that demonstrates the excellent capacity of the national laboratory services.
On average, we had less than 15 cases a day and the national laboratory reported that the highest number of cases were in our two Metros, Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay. We have also had a substantial decline in the positivity rate from 2.5% to 1.4%, and this demonstrates a positive trend of low community transmission as a result of adherence to level 1 risk-adjusted measures by our people,” said Mabuyane.
