Gauteng ready for fourth wave of COVID-19 infections: Dr Kgongwana

The Gauteng Health Department says it’s ready for the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections in the province.

Doctor Freddy Kgongwana, the department’s acting deputy director-general for hospital services, says the province has adequate beds and oxygen supply to deal with an influx of patients.

Gauteng has become the epicenter of the virus in the country, with the highly transmissible new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, raging through parts of the province.

Almost seven-million vaccines have been administered in Gauteng.

Dr Kgongwana says Tshwane is huge a concern

“We have 4407 designated COVID-19 beds in Gauteng, out of the 18 344 beds that Gauteng health has always been having. Out of the 4407 beds, we’ve got 1078 patients admitted and we have a total of 3 329 beds available. Where we stand, we are ready for the fourth wave, since the end of the third wave we have been preparing ourselves. We have the security of oxygen in Gauteng, It’s sub-districts 3 and 4 in Tshwane that we are worried about. We are seeing an increase in those areas. We cannot afford to be complacent, we are monitoring the entire province.

President to address the nation

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation at 20h00 on Sunday on developments in the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

President’s address at 20h00, LIVE BELOW:

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele says now that the National Coronvirus Command Council meeting has been concluded, President Ramaphosa is ready to address the nation tonight.

The council met yesterday and today to discuss the detection of the new variant in the country.

The Omicron variant is believed to be driving a sharp rise in new coronavirus infections. Several countries have imposed travel bans on at least nine countries in southern Africa including South Africa following the detection of the new variant. Gungubele says President Ramaphosa will communicate the council’s recommendations related to scientific evidence as well as submissions by different economic and social sectors.