CAPE TOWN, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Northern Cape Province of South Africa recorded the highest incidence of new cases of COVID-19 among all nine provinces during the past few weeks, its top official said Wednesday, after a "consistent" increase in the cases led to the closure of schools for disinfection and isolation in May.

"With the current developments in the province, we wish to send a word of caution to our members of the public that if we are not able to work together to limit the spread of the virus, we could be moving to higher lockdown levels sooner than anticipated," Premier of Northern Cape Province Zamani Saul told an online briefing that focused on the rise of COVID-19 cases in communities and schools as well as the provincial vaccine rollout plan.

Saul said the province's weekly incidence was 171 cases per 100,000 people, the highest in country, followed by Free State with 105 cases per 100,000 and Gauteng with 71 cases per 100,000.

Northern Cape is currently one of the four provinces that are already in the third wave, alongside Free State, North West and Gauteng.

South Africa, which has the highest national tally of COVID-19 in Africa, moved to lockdown level two from the previous level one as the number of infections began to rise sharply in several parts of the country and the positivity rate has more than doubled in the last month, from around 4 percent to more than 11 percent.

"The higher numbers (of cases) are an indication that we are moving closer to the third wave as a country," he said, warning a potential result that has the same disruptions to families and the economy as experienced in 2020.

The premier also said that over the past few weeks, the province has greatly improved the testing capacity. In the last seven days, it has tested over 12,000 people for COVID-19, an 8 percent increase compared to 11,000 people in the previous week.

He also encouraged those eligible for vaccination to register and await the opportunity to get vaccinated.

As of June 1, the least populated province in South Africa recorded a total of 51,041 cases, equal to 3.1 percent of the national tally, but its 8,269 active cases is the second highest in the country, after Gauteng's 15,704 cases.

On May 30, the provincial government said since May 1, 79 schools have been closed to allow for disinfection and the immediate isolation of appropriately identified staff and learners, including 61 that have reopened, as the province experienced a "consistent" increase in the number of cases over the past three weeks, with the education department recorded 264 positive cases at schools during the previous week. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)