The daily report into the outbreak of coronavirus infections in the Eastern Cape brought some good news for the first time in months on Wednesday as the National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported a significant decrease in new cases of the virus in Nelson Mandela Bay and the Sarah Baartman District.

Premier Oscar Mabuyane said the race was on to get enough oxygen to facilities in provincial hotspots as the virus continued to ravage the Eastern Cape.

The province has 13,033 active cases of the virus and the cumulative death toll for Covid-19 since March stands at 5,681 cases.

The two districts, Nelson Mandela Bay and Sarah Baartman, have borne the brunt of a massive outbreak since late October, with hospitals battling to cope and multiple deaths reported daily.

But according to the latest report, new cases in Nelson Mandela Bay have dropped by 43% and in the Sarah Baartman District by 21%.

The Nelson Mandela Bay metro still has 2,814 active cases and an incidence of 232 cases per 100,000 people. 

The news for the rest of the Eastern Cape, however, is worsening by the day. 

Three districts, two of which have been identified as highly vulnerable by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, have reported a rapid increase in cases. These are Alfred Nzo, with its seat in Mount Ayliff, Joe Gqabi, around Aliwal North, and the OR Tambo district that constitutes large parts of the former Transkei homeland.

The report says the number of deaths in the province related to Covid-19 increased significantly in November and December, with 600 deaths in December so far. Of patients admitted to hospital with complications related to Covid-19, 26.45% die, with 72% of these deaths occurring in state hospitals.

“The impact of the intervention measures that were implemented in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and the Sarah Baartman district appear to be producing positive results,” the report says.

Premier Oscar Mabuyane said all 52 of the province’s planned infrastructure projects to increase the number of hospital beds had been completed.

He said the provincial government was now focusing on making sure that district hospitals and clinics had enough oxygen for patients. There are close to 900 patients in state hospitals who are dependent on oxygen.

He said oxygen concentrators would be distributed to clinics, field hospitals and district hospitals to supplement cylinders — oxygen cylinders would be doubled up in hotspots.

He said vacuum insulated evaporators and reticulation at all regional hospitals and district hospitals with high consumption within hotspot districts would be completed soon. 

The premier said measures included “paving of roads where bulk tanks have been installed”.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers opened a new Covid-19 ward in Makhanda’s Settlers Hospital. It took the organisation a mere 10 days to renovate a disused wing of the hospital.

“During a visit to Settlers Hospital in Makhanda on 30 November, Gift of the Givers promised to convert a disused wing into a 20-bed dedicated Covid-19 isolation facility with high care and oxygen points. The building team arrived on 5 December and completed the R750,000 renovation in one week,” Gift of the Givers’ Imtiaz Sooliman said.

He said they provided the beds, mattresses, blankets, pillows, linen, a fridge, microwave and urn for the facility and 16 stretchers for the hospital’s casualty unit. 

“The aim of equipping outlying hospitals is to reduce the number of patients being referred to Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, thus taking the strain off the exhausted healthcare workers in the major centres,” Sooliman said.

He said Gift of the Givers would help to increase the capacity of the Willowmore Hospital by 15 beds and a wing at the Margery Parkes Hospital in Graaff-Reinet to cater for another 20 Covid-19 patients.

Gift of the Givers has already set up a 120-bed Covid-19 facility at Bisho Hospital. Construction teams will be arriving from December 15 to carry out a R3-million renovation to provide accommodation for medical professionals to live on site, thus increasing staff availability at the facility. 

He said a memorandum of understanding between the Eastern Cape Department of Health, TraumaNet Ambulance Service and Gift of the Givers was almost ready. This would provide for 26 paramedics, funded by Gift of the Givers, to support doctors and nurses at Livingstone Hospital. The organisation has been funding six nurses to help at Livingstone Hospital since June.

Sooliman said the distribution of PPE, sanitiser, non-contact thermometers, pulse oximeters, scrubs and dexamethasone (steroids) to various hospitals was ongoing. 

“More high-flow nasal oxygen machines are being sent to the province to cope with the rising number of oxygen-dependent admissions. Consumables for these machines are being stockpiled in advance of companies closing for the year-end break,” Sooliman said. DM/MC

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