The City of Cape Town’s Health Department is reporting an increase in incidents of non-adherence to COVID-19 protocols. Its Environmental Health Practitioners are particularly concerned about the number of people who are going about their business in public without masks, as well as crowd management in shops, malls and other public amenities.
“Cape Town worked very hard to overcome the peak of the pandemic so that we could start focusing on rebuilding lives, communities and the economy,” said the City’s Mayco Member for Community Services and Health, Zahid Badroodien.
“All of this hard work will be undermined if we drop our collective guard. While the COVID caseload and related fatalities have decreased significantly in the past month, we cannot change our behaviour. I hear far too many anecdotes about the pandemic being a thing of the past – this is not true, particularly if one looks at the many countries where lockdowns have had to be reintroduced as a result of a second wave of infections.”
According to Badroodien, Cape Town and South Africa need to take heed from these cautionary tales and do everything possible to mitigate the risk of a second wave. Currently, the caseload, admissions and fatalities by week remain stable within the metro. The test positivity rate in the metro also remains stable at below 10%.
“We are monitoring these indicators very closely for any signs of additional waves of infection,” he added. “We, therefore, urge the public to continue abiding by the health and hygiene protocols and to wear a mask at all times in public, to help avoid a second wave of infections locally, or at the very least mitigate the impact thereof.”
Effective and regular handwashing, mask wearing and social distancing are the best tools available to help prevent the spread of the virus in the absence of a vaccine and have been proven to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
“Increased vigilance is crucial – we cannot afford to lose focus,” Badroodien said.
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