Western Cape, the third wave has arrived.
The Western Cape has officially entered the third wave of COVID-19 infections. Premier Alan Winde said that there had been a more than 34% increase in COVID-19 cases weekly.
The province has been in a resurgence and indicators are now pointing to a third wave.
According to the premier all the indicators including the R-rate – the reproduction rate, as well as the increase in the number of cases in the province are now over 5,800 active cases, thus entering the Western Cape into it’s third wave.
Meanwhile,
The Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town have reached joint agreement to turn the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) into a mass vaccination site.
Premier of the Western Cape, Alan Winde, said: “Just over one year ago, our teams worked quickly and efficiently to convert the CTICC into the Western Cape’s first major field hospital, our ‘Hospital of Hope’, and it became a place of healing for the thousands of residents who received life-saving treatment there. I’m excited to once again be working at full speed to open this world-class conferencing venue to residents across the City of Cape Town, enabling a radical increase in life-saving vaccinations. It is our intention for it to be a Centre of Hope in our City and Province within a few weeks.”
The City of Cape Town begun preparation for the site in March 2021. Work included project management, concept design and costing. These plans were shared with the Provincial government who, after several engagements with the City, made the decision to utilise the CTICC in this regard” said the City’s Executive Mayor Alderman Dan Plato.
The City will drive final preparations in the coming week with the aim of completing the project before the end of June, and the Western Cape Government will be responsible for the management of the site.
The site, however, can only work at full capacity once vaccine supplies allows it. We are hopeful that the release of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, and the arrival of further Pfizer tranches will enable this in the next 3 weeks.
