A total of 241 patients came through its doors, but now the temporary Covid-19 field hospital in Khayelitsha will close. It is yet another sign that the Western Cape, at least for now, is beyond the worst of the pandemic, although it is far from over.
In March 2020, Khayelitsha was the first township in South Africa to have a confirmed Covid-19 case. The Khayelitsha Thusong Service Centre, a sports community facility, was then converted into a 60-bed field hospital and officially opened on 2 June 2020. Managed and sponsored by Médecins Sans Frontières , the field hospital was opened as part of the Western Cape response to the pandemic and to support the nearby Khayelitsha District Hospital.
Khayelitsha has seen just under 8,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases. Currently, only 206 of these are active . Cloete said that over the past week, there were 73 cases, 22 admissions and 13 deaths. For context, he explained that on 15 June 2020, there were 5,209 cases, of which 1,800 were active. In the seven days before 15 June, there were 1,479 cases, 220 admissions and 83 deaths. “That was at the height of what was happening in Khayelitsha,” said Cloete.
Premier Alan Winde praised MSF’s work at the temporary hospital. He then emphasised: “We’ve got to now save jobs and stop hunger and unemployment.” He said that the centre can now hopefully be used again as a place of hope and economic opportunity for the people of Khayelitsha. According to the national Ministry of Health, the Western Cape had just over 100,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 3,454 deaths as of 11 August 2020. But often, a Covid-19 death is not recorded as such because people die at home or without a positive diagnosis.The latest Medical Research Council mortality report indicates that there have been just under 4,700 “excess” natural deaths in the Western Cape since the pandemic started. Most of the excess deaths are likely to be Covid-19.
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