As Gauteng health authorities said public hospitals had reached maximum bed capacity, daily Covid-19 deaths in Gauteng exceeded deaths in the Western Cape for the first time.
Of the 95 deaths yesterday, most – 38 – were in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape (29), KwaZulu-Natal (16) and Eastern Cape (12).
The latest toll brings the national total to 2 844. Health minister Zweli Mkhize said the mortality rate was 1.7%.
Positive cases nationally rose by 8 728 to 168 061 (with 81 999 recoveries).
This came as the Gauteng Department of Health said government hospitals in the province had ‘reached the maximum bed capacity’. This arose not just from Covid-19 cases, but also from maternity, neonatal ICU, mental health (substance abuse), and trauma cases.
Department spokesperson Philani Mhlungu told News24 that patients who needed to be admitted would be diverted to other hospitals where beds had opened up.
Gauteng Health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku said in an interview with News24 that the province’s health system was ‘already feeling the pressure’, though he did not expect the system to ‘fail’.
‘It will be overcrowded in hospitals. We are already feeling the pressure in many facilities and we are going to see a lot of accident and emergency departments filled up with patients waiting to be put on beds and we are going to see a lot of healthcare workers exhausted, fatigued …,’ he said.
Masuku predicted that the province would reach 120 000 cases by the end of July, rising to ‘closer to 250 000 to 300 000 by August, [and in] September, which is expected to be the peak, we will be having more than that’.
It was reported yesterday that President Cyril Ramaphosa had written to National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise and National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo to inform them that the government had decided to extend the deployment of 20 000 army members until 30 September, to work alongside police and other law enforcement officers in maintaining lockdown order.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) confirmed yesterday that the Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) payments for June would be the last. Technical problems had resulted in these final payments being delayed by more than week.
The government had initially said it would contemplate extending the payments, but the UIF confirmed yesterday there would be no TERS payments for July or beyond.