As the Western Cape’s coronavirus epidemic shows continued signs of easing, premier Alan Winde urged locals to venture out and support local businesses hard hit by the economic fall out of the disease.
“We all need to play our part in saving jobs with the same focus and dedication that we all put into flattening [the] curve,” Winde said on Thursday. “We have shown it is possible to build the biggest Covid-19 field hospital in Africa in a month. This same energy needs to be harnessed and applied to key projects that will help grow [the] economy [and] create jobs,” he said, referring to the 850-bed Hospital of Hope that was built in the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
The seven-day moving average for the positivity rate, which is the percentage of people who test positive for Covid-19, now stands at 15% in Western Cape, its lowest level since mid-May, he said. At its peak in early July, the seven-day moving average for the positivity rate was about 35%. The timing and trajectory of the disease had varied among the province’s 12 districts, and the Garden Route was the last to show signs of easing, said Cloete.