12 August 2021
There are signs the province is in its peak of third-wave infections as hospital admissions and cases are starting to stabilise, but health authorities are urging those who are eligible to get vaccinated urgently.
Those aged 50 to 59 need to get the Covid-19 vaccine “urgently” since this group has the most hospital admissions and deaths, Western Cape health department head Dr Keith Cloete declared during a virtual media briefing on Thursday.
According to provincial data, 68% of hospital admissions and 87% of deaths recorded in the third wave are among the over-50s. Cloete referred to those between 50 and 59 as “the big group”. According his presentation there are 682,516 people in this group in the province, but:
310,476 (45,5%) have registered on the Electronic Vaccination Data System;
216,412 (31,7%) are partially vaccinated; and
53,057 (7,8%) are fully vaccinated.
Cloete said there were signs that the province was in the peak of its third wave of infections and potentially coming off its peak. However, there was a possibility of case backlogs due to taxi violence, which meant people were unable to get to testing centres.
The rural districts, such as the Overberg and the Garden Route, were plateauing, as were areas in the Cape metro.
But Cloete urged residents to stick to mask wearing and physical distancing because “risks of being exposed at gatherings is very high”….
Read full article here.