Gauteng ready for third wave, with 4 500 hospital beds available – Makhura

The Gauteng government has made 4 564 bed spaces available for Covid-19 patients amid concerns about rising infections.

This comes after premier David Makhura said Gauteng was in the early phases of a third wave – and that the province was prepared.

“We have also added 4 000 professionals to the staff complement of the department of health,” he said on Thursday.

While giving an update on Covid-19 in Gauteng, alongside the provincial command council (PCC) yesterday, Makhura noted that the increase in the number of cases was a matter for concern.

Earlier, the premier’s advisory council chair, Dr Mary Kawonga, said all districts had seen an increase in cases in the past week – with the highest increases recorded in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Sedibeng.

She said Emfuleni was the most concerning subdistrict.

“The number of cases from Monday this week have doubled from last week. This a worrying trend,” said Kawonga.

“There has been a sustained increase particularly in Emfuleni. Emfuleni is approaching a third wave threshold after consistently recording the highest daily cases every day for the past three weeks.”

Kawonga agreed with projections by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) that the third wave was unlikely to be more severe than the preceding waves.

According to the NICD, Gauteng is expected to be the hardest-hit province, since it is home to more than a quarter of South Africa’s population.

Makhura said he believed the lessons learned from the first and second waves would help authorities better prepare for the third wave. “When Covid-19 first hit, the province had 1 193 beds, we now have 4 564 available.

“With regards to human resources, we are better prepared than we were in May 2020. The availability of oxygen is also a key priority. Our response to Covid-19 is not only to deal with the current pandemic, but our interventions will last for the next 20 years or more. We have put in place permanent structures,” he said.

However, during the peak of the third wave, the province is going to need 2 400 critical beds and 7 500 general beds to meet the demand, according to the national department of health’s head of infrastructure, Dr Sifiso Maseko.