Covid-19: Wave of admissions starting to subside georgeherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from georgeherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Dr. Nomafrench Mbombo (Photo: MELINDA STUURMAN)
Western Cape Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo is travelling to Limpopo for the holidays, leaving overstretched healthcare workers to cope with rising pandemic levels in the province.
Mbombo posted a video of herself on Facebook, dancing and singing, saying she pitied those who are not as privileged as her to go on holiday.
Her spokesperson said she had been working around the clock and was a healthcare worker herself.
Distressed and overworked health workers are on duty around the clock as the rate of Covid-19 infections in some provinces are expected to overtake that of the first wave in the next two weeks.
WC Health Dept officials expect peak in COVID-19 cases to hit in Jan The province is currently dealing with 34,000 active cases and the peak would be far, far higher than the one during the first wave earlier this year. FILE: Medical swabs to test for the coronavirus. Picture: Eyewitness News.
94 days ago
CAPE TOWN - The Western Cape expects to hit its second peak of COVID-19 infections in the first week of the new year.
The province is currently dealing with 34,000 active cases and the peak will be far, far higher than the one during the first wave earlier this year.
Tuesday 22 December 2020 - 5:32am
File: COVID-19 test.
AFP/Jens Schlueter
JOHANNESBURG - The Western Cape’s health department says 11 private hospitals and two public hospitals have asked for diversion.
This as COVID-19 infections have spiked in the province over the weekend.
Health authorities say though they won’t be reopening field hospitals but they will intensify their strategy to cope with the pressure. We are seeing the snowballing effect of the exponential rise of cases in the province over the last few days and unfortunately that has placed our hospitals under significant pressure. As a result of that pressure, we obviously have to now put into place some management actions, and one of those being diversions, said Dr Saadiq Kariem from the Western Cape Health Department.
EMS drones will deliver life-saving equipment to Western Cape patients
By Sisonke Mlamla
Share
Cape Town - The Western Cape Health Department is expected to announce the implementation of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) drone project, that would be allowed to fly over national key points.
The drone system will deliver automated external defibrillators to the scene of cardiac arrests. In doing so, bystanders would now have the ability to initiate life-saving measures while awaiting professional medical care.
EMS spokesperson Deanna Bessick said the project began in January 2017, and that the Western Cape Health’s EMS would become the first government institution in South Africa to be allowed to fly over national key points.