Premier Alan Winde President has written to Cyril Ramaphosa to request an urgent meeting of the President’s Coordinating Council (PCC) so that the province can table the latest data in support of the complete removal of the remaining COVID-19 restrictions.

The Western Cape’s data shows clearly that there has been a continued decoupling between COVID-19 infections on the one hand, and COVID-19 related hospitalisations and deaths on the other. A robust measure for COVID-19 pressure on the health platform is oxygen usage, and that has remained low.

Indeed, while there was an increase in COVID-19 infections, the Western Cape remained solidly in the first tier of our trigger system, with hospitalisations, deaths and oxygen usage all remaining low.

What is even more striking is that this is currently the case even though we have already peaked during the latest COVID-19 resurgence, and all indications are that we are starting to see a decrease in COVID-19 infections. We will be unpacking this further during our next digital press conference next week Tuesday.

Winde says it’s time to deal with the second pandemic, that of poverty and unemployment.

Why is our country’s shocking unemployment rate not being viewed with the same urgency that we showed when confronting COVID-19 this time two years ago? It should be treated as the major crisis that it is, and prompt immediate action.

It is for this reason, based on clear data in support of this call, that I call for the lifting of all remaining COVID-19 restrictions, and for this to be done as soon as possible. It is time to completely pass the baton to the citizens of our country who should be entrusted with the responsibility to stay safe if they are at risk.

This in particular means removing the requirement for mask-wearing, and any limitation on gathering, indoors or outdoors. The economy must be allowed to operate, unfettered.

The latest health data from the Western Cape:

• There has been a decrease in daily cases over the last week, with 804 new cases each day based on the 7-day moving average.
• Cases for the province have decreased by 24% week-on-week.
• The PCR proportion of positive tests is approximately 31%, which is 10% lower than two weeks ago, but still higher than before the recent resurgence.
• Hospital admissions are also decreasing from a high of 64 new admissions daily two weeks ago to around 52 new admissions.
• While deaths in the Western Cape have increased slightly, the absolute number of deaths remains low.
• The high infection rate, decreasing number of hospitalisations and the low number of deaths indicates that there is a decoupling in this regard.

Winde says there is also ample capacity for health facilities to deal with any serious cases:

• 336-bed Brackengate Hospital of Hope has 31 patients admitted;
• 66-bed Sonstraal Hospital has 2 patients admitted; and
• 40 bed-ward at Harry Comay has 0 patients.

Winde says the province can also re-activate the 200-bed Mitchells Plain Hospital of Hope, the 60-bed Freesia Ward and the 30-bed Ward 99, which has not been necessary due to the low demand.