Death at your door

The national number of Covid-19 deaths is significantly higher than predictions and Gauteng could see as many as 5 000 deaths next month, the province’s health MEC Bandile Masuku expects.

244 Covid-19 deaths in Gauteng so far with predictions that the toll will be 5 000 by August.

Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku said yesterday he expected Gauteng Covid-19 cases to reach between 250 000 and 300 000 by August and warned hospitals had already reached capacity, making overcrowding an increasing issue.

If Gauteng shows the same case fatality rate as the rest of the country – 1.7% and in line with elsewhere in the world – then Gauteng could see as many as 5 000 deaths by August.

According to the latest statistics, as of 1 July, Gauteng had 45 944 confirmed cases of Covid-19, 3 091 of which had resulted in hospitalisation. Of those, 12 957 people had recovered, while the official death toll had reached 244.

This left Gauteng with 35 166 active cases, the highest by far in the country.

Of the total confirmed cases, 22 388 were recorded in Johannesburg, 9 845 in Ekurhuleni and 7 235 cases in Tshwane.

Hospitals will run out of nurses and other critical staff, unions have warned.

Covid-19 infections among healthcare workers have raised concerns about the true impact of the pandemic in the country.

Nursing union the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) has called on the government to act swiftly to curb the spread of the virus among healthcare workers, warning that there was no contingency plan to deal with the threat.

Denosa secretary-general Cassim Lekhoati said the union was concerned that, coupled with diminishing resources, conditions for optimum healthcare for patients was diminishing in tandem with the deteriorating situation of the workers.

“We are soon going to have a problem of a high number of admissions in critical areas and nobody to look after them,” said Lekhoati.

Hospitals were being forced to send patients home and even more worrying were the choices staff had to make between saving one patient over another because of a lack of equipment.

“I wouldn’t say we are sending people to go home and die, but ... hospitals ... may find yourself having to prioritise one over another who is less critical, but in other instances, it can mean giving a ventilator to one patient and leaving another to possibly die.”

A clinic in the South of Johannesburg had 27 workers confirmed positive for Covid-19, according to a nurse at the facility who could not named.

While she was quarantined, others had continued their duties because according to their employer, being asymptomatic meant that they could continue to report to work.

“We are scared for our lives... How can you say that a nurse who is sick must be exposed to patients and the community. You may find that many healthcare workers are carrying this virus to their homes and into the taxis they use every day and they are telling us to continue to work?”

The nurse, 34, said a government quarantine facility had been offered, but she opted to self-quarantine because of rumours about how cold those facilities were.

At Helen Joseph Hospital, 503 of 2 026 workers were tested and 151 tested positive. This was in addition to 287 patients being treated at the hospital.

The Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union warned that infections and deaths of nurses were being kept secret and were on the rise.

Its deputy president Fikile Dikolomela-Lengene said: “Through all of this, nurses are still brave enough to wake up in the morning and keep soldiering on, still vowing to treat patients.” –

We are scared for our lives