The Gauteng government has ramped up its screening of citizens for Covid-19 as infections in the province are expected to spike after the holidays, with workers returning to their jobs this week.
Yesterday, Gauteng premier David Makhura joined law enforcement and health workers at the Grasmere tollgate along the N1, where voluntary testing was offered to people entering the province with symptoms and those from hotspots across the country.
The roadblock was one of 10 such initiatives that are being carried out by the province on the main arterial routes to screen and test as many people as possible.
By Sunday, the province had recorded 2,624 new cases. Tshwane led the pack with 1,135 infections, followed by Johannesburg with 874 and Ekurhuleni with 380.
Makhura told journalists at the roadblock that the province had exceeded 3,000 hospital admissions relating to Covid-19.
“Those are indicators that the situation in the province is going to be difficult. The infection rate in Johannesburg and Tshwane is shooting [through] the roof now. The reason is because around Christmas we saw a lot of parties in the two cities. When the country moved to [adjusted lockdown] level 3 it helped us a great deal.
“We’ve also increased the number of staff in our health facilities but we know that Gauteng is still going to go through a difficult time in the next two weeks. Now that everybody is back from all the provinces, we are going to go through a difficult time. The health system is going to feel the pressure. We are urging people to go and test,” he said.
The roadblocks will run for the whole of this week and will also be used to check compliance with lockdown regulations and to provide HIV testing.
In about an hour more than 250 people were tested at the Grasmere roadblock.
Medical experts have predicted that Gauteng will soon lead the country in the number of Covid-19 cases. Rapid Covid-19 testing is aimed at helping to isolate those who have already got the virus and it is offered for free.
Gauteng health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi said the province has already taken a decision to move patients from other hospitals in Johannesburg to the Nasrec field hospital to create space for more patients.
“ We took a decision this morning that all our patients, while waiting for their results, we will be admitting them to Nasrec. They will be under the supervision of [Chris Hani] Bara[gwanath] Hospital. Clinicians will be able to go and check the patients there ... We are creating capacity to make sure that the more we admit the patients, we have capacity for new patients,” Mokgethi said.
She said there were seven Cuban doctors, four at night and three during the day, caring for 38 patients at the field hospital, which has capacity for 1,000.
Mokgethi said ICU beds will be kept at the hospitals but the field facility also has oxygenated beds for those with breathing problems.
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