The Nasrec covid-19 field hospital, which currently has a 1000-bed capacity, will be expanded by another 500 beds to accommodate more patients as the second wave of the pandemic hits the country.

This was announced by Gauteng Premier David Makhura after visiting the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria on Monday morning. 

Makhura said there were more plans to increase the capacity of the field hospital which is currently accommodating 300 patients by another 1,000 beds to deal with the increasing number of admission in public hospitals, which has doubled in the past seven days.

"We know that the second wave may be more or double the first wave. We must also plan ahead. One of the things that we are doing is that we are going back to Nasrec," Makhura said.

He said even though Nasrec did not admit as many people during the first wave,  it would come handy for the province now during the covid-19 second wave.

"In two days we are able to add another 500 beds at Nasrec, which will have oxygen because in the first wave we had a 1000 beds with oxygen but we downscaled when the infection rate was going down and the admissions were lower, we downscaled to 500," Makhura said.

He said public hospitals were now admitting in excess of 2,000 patients daily, with Tshwane as one of the covid-19 hotspots in the province.

"The next two weeks are going to be more difficult... we are in the eye of the storm of the second wave," Makhura said.

The Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria has had to install two more fever tents after it experienced a big influx of patients suspected of having covid-19.