North West raises concern over rising COVID-19 cases

North West Health MEC, Madoda Sambatha, has raised concern over the rising daily COVID-19 positive cases across the province.

According to the provincial department, the province has been experiencing a peak in new infections in the past seven days with an average of 300 cases reported daily.

“The North West province is currently experiencing a serious spike in Coronavirus cases since last week, an average of 300 cases per day is a huge sign of concern for our province,” said MEC Sambatha.

“In the last 24 hours we recorded a total of 426 new positive cases and this gives us 6 810 active cases,” he added.

Since the beginning of June, the province has been logging over 400 daily cases, while Bojanala and Dr Kenneth Kaunda are the hardest-hit districts by the recent resurgence.

“These recent developments do not augur well for the provincial health system,” the department said.

Meanwhile, Sambatha said the Klerksdorp/Tshepong Hospital sounded an alarm on Sunday with an increasing number of hospitalisations for Coronavirus cases.

“This raises a grave concern for the provincial health system as it points out to a potential crisis if our communities do not take preventative measures to curb the spread of infections, we, therefore, urge our communities to assist us to protect our fragile system by adhering to preventative measures,” he said.

The province has since warned its citizens of the looming third wave, which accounts for the rise in new daily cases.

“It would seem our people have let their guard down. People are beginning to live as if we are back to normality. We see this in how shopping complexes, taxi ranks, and domestic activities like funerals get overcrowded. This is likely to add to more increase in the number of new cases,” cautioned Sambatha.

Over and above avoiding congregate setting, the MEC is calling on the public to avoid unnecessary travel, always wear masks in public, social distance and regularly wash hands or sanitise.

The North West has recorded 78 836 positive cases so far, while 70 077 people have since recuperated, which translates to a recovery rate of 88.9%.

“Unfortunately the province has recorded 1 949 COVID-19 related deaths to date.”

Meanwhile, the province believes it is making significant strides in the fight against the Coronavirus with 70 209 vaccines administered to date.

“However, the communities are urged to adhere to preventative measures of social distancing, sanitise, wearing of masks, avoid crowded places and unnecessary travel.”