As Covid-19 cases in the Eastern Cape increased by almost 2,000 in 24 hours from Friday to Saturday, the provincial government and coastal municipalities have asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to close their beaches over the festive season to stop further superspreader events.

There are currently 12,336 active cases of coronavirus infections in the province.

Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s spokesperson, Mvusi Sicwetsha said the collective decision was taken to stop the spread of infections. “We realised and identified that having activities in these places (beaches and recreational parks) poses huge risks as they are not controlled and [have the potential] to become superspreaders,” he said.

He said they want the decision to be a national one as this will also cover the other coastal provinces. This, Sicwetsha explained, was because there was lots of traffic between the coastal provinces and they hope a national decision will help stop the spread of coronaviruses.

He added that once the decision has been taken by the national government, the Eastern Cape government will announce more details on when the beach ban will kick in. Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation on Monday.

“We are optimistic that people will comply,” Sicwetsha said.

He further explained that they were also looking into other issues that can be linked to a sharp increase of coronavirus infections in the province including the preparation for funerals “when there is a lot of cooking and slaughtering”.

“We are calling on people to be aware and cautious,” he said.

The Eastern Cape, with KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Gauteng were identified by the Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize as the provinces driving a second wave of coronavirus infections in the country. On Saturday night the country registered 7,882 new cases.

The latest epidemiological report for the Eastern Cape, compiled by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, states that the province had an increase of 1,877 new coronavirus cases between Friday and Saturday and another 97 Covid-19 related deaths with 66 people dying in the 48 hours between Thursday and Saturday.

Of the new cases 46,9% occurred in the eastern and central part of the province, 21% in the Nelson Mandela Metro and the Karoo districts, and 21,4% from the districts that comprised the former Transkei area, Alfred Nzo and OR Tambo. All districts in the province, however, qualify as hotspots, having an incidence rate of higher than five coronavirus infections/100,000 people.

The NICD report cautioned that there were currently two new clusters of infections which require a prompt response to minimise further spread of the disease. These were at the old age home, Huis De Ros in Despatch where 17 residents tested positive for the virus and Gert Greeff Tehuis in Willowmore where seven residents tested positive.

The report concluded that the number of coronavirus infections have significantly increased during the November-December period in the Eastern Cape.

“The second peak of the pandemic is more likely to exceed the first peak, which occurred during the June-July period. The key risk factors are associated with the relaxation of the lockdown restrictions. These factors may include failure to use the non-pharmaceutical prevention strategies (wearing of masks, social distancing and hand washing or sanitation), mass gatherings (in funerals and memorials, parties, bashes with famous artists or DJs, etc.), and high mobility rates,” the report concluded.

Metro Police Commissioner Yolande Faro said in Nelson Mandela Bay, currently the only declared Covid-19 hotspot in the country, the owners of two bars and a tavern were issued with R500 fines for non-compliance with coronavirus regulations and nine taverns were temporarily closed for the same reason.

Ten days ago Ramaphosa declared the metro as a hotspot and issued additional restrictions including a bar on retail alcohol sales from Friday to Sunday, drinking at the beach and in public parks, restrictions on religious gatherings, a ban on post-funeral functions, and a 10pm curfew. DM/MC