Western Cape responsible for nearly all of SA's new Covid-19 cases

Joggers, walkers and cyclists take the chance to exercise as South Africa starts to relax some aspects of a stringent nationwide coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown in Cape Town earlier this month.
Joggers, walkers and cyclists take the chance to exercise as South Africa starts to relax some aspects of a stringent nationwide coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown in Cape Town earlier this month.
Image: REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

The spread of Covid-19 in Cape Town continues to outpace the rest of the Western Cape and the country as a whole.

On Tuesday, Cape Town had 5,620 confirmed cases, according to the provincial government's dashboard. This is 91% of the Western Cape's total of 6,194.

The Western Cape government's Covid-19 dashboard at 1pm on May 12 2020.
The Western Cape government's Covid-19 dashboard at 1pm on May 12 2020.
Image: Western Cape government

The country saw a 6.5% daily increase in cases on Tuesday, but Cape Town's increase was 8.8%.

A clinical research centre in Cape Town called TASK has begun a vaccine clinical trial on 500 health workers to determine if the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine can prevent people from contracting the coronavirus or limit the severity of Covid-19 symptoms.

And while cases have increased by 50% in SA in the past week, the Western Cape has seen a 68.45% rise and in Cape Town the number has grown by 71.4%.

The Western Cape's share of SA's 698 new cases on Tuesday was 91%.

The per capita infection rate in Khayelitsha, the health subdistrict with the greatest concentration of Covid-19 cases, reached 208 per 100,000 on Tuesday.

This means one person in every 500 among the township's 4 million residents has tested positive.

The per capita rate in Klipfontein — a health subdistrict which includes Philippi, Gugulethu, Nyanga, Crossroads, Heideveld and Manenberg — was 186 per 100,000 on Tuesday. In Tygerberg, which includes Langa, Delft, Belhar, Elsies River and Bonteheuwel, it was 162 per 100,000.

In Cape Town's least-affected subdistricts — the southern, northern and eastern suburbs — it ranged between 104 and 106 per 100,000 people.


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