In the time it takes to read these first few lines, another four people in SA will have been diagnosed with Covid-19 as the disease comes closer to home, cutting a deadly swathe through the country and claiming an average of 70 lives a day.
Nationally, infections have increased more than fivefold in the past month, from 24,264 on May 26 to 124,590 on June 26, while deaths have more than quadrupled, from 524 to 2,340.By yesterday, the Western Cape had reported 1,696 Covid-19 deaths, and Cape Town is anticipating that 10,000 people will have lost their lives to Covid by the end of September.
In Westpark Cemetery, Johannesburg, an 80-year-old man who died of Covid-19 is buried by his family and friends. They permitted photographs on condition that their identities and those of their loved one be protected. In the Muslim section of the cemetery alone, more than 25 graves are marked 'CD' to indicate Covid-19 as the cause of death.
Two ICU nurses shared the overwhelming demands on them on Facebook this week:"We used to have six beds in here, now we're sitting with 18 beds in the unit I'm working in. We've only had one patient that's actually left . We've been admitting constantly, it just goes on and on and on." In the Eastern Cape, Madhi said health-care facilities were"under-prepared in terms of meeting the demands" of the population even before the pandemic.
A report by the Eastern Cape provincial command council predicts up to 6,000 deaths in the coming months and says the number of hospital beds will be insufficient"unless capabilities are exponentially and rapidly increased".
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