Welcome to the weekly media briefing of the Gauteng Provincial Command Council.

Although COVID-19 is essentially a health pandemic, it has a significant social and economic impact that goes beyond the public health system.

The Gauteng Provincial COVID-19 Response Plan is based on the following five pillars:

1) Comprehensive Health Response

2) Food Security Response

3) Enforcement and Compliance measures

4) Economic Response

5) Social mobilization and Social Solidarity

Specific strategies are being implemented in each of these five pillars.

A Comprehensive Health Response

Gauteng province remains the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, with 930 of the 2 506 national confirmed cases being in our province (37%) as of 15 April 2020.

You may recall that before the lockdown, 52% of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 cases in South Africa were in Gauteng. As of 15^th April, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in our province constitute 37% of national total.

The district breakdown of our provincial number of 930 confirmed COVID-19 cases is as follows: Johannesburg is at 558, Ekurhuleni at 161, Tshwane at 104, West Rand at 35 and Sedibeng at 8. We currently have 64 unallocated cases. The data is continuously being cleaned as part of the data harmonization process to ensure that all cases can be accounted for.

The lockdown has significantly slowed down the infection rate and stopped the importation of cases that were coming through O.R. Tambo International Airport and other ports of entry.

Sadly, five (5) of our fellow Gauteng residents have passed-on in this battle against COVID-19. 

On behalf of the provincial government and the people of Gauteng, we send our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. May their souls Rest in Peace.

We are comforted and encouraged by the fact that 479 patients have recovered from COVID-19. This means that 51.5% of those who were infected have recovered. However, we are not complacent because the journey to the peak is still long.

Currently, 101 infected patients have been hospitalized, 15 of whom are in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This means 1.6% of all those infected have required intensive care.

We have significantly improved contact tracing, scaled up the capacity to screen and increased the number of people tested.

Out of the 6 431 identified contacts who were traced and put under isolation or quarantine, 2 394 have now been cleared of COVID-19. The remaining 4 037 remain under medical surveillance by our team of tracers until they are cleared. 

Since the 31^st March 2020, our Community Health Workers (CHW’s) and health professionals have screened 196 421 people, and out of whom 2 591 people were referred for testing and were indeed tested.

The screening and testing is focusing on areas of high density of contacts, (whether in suburbs or townships) and high vulnerability.

We are making significant progress in preparing our public health infrastructure for the period when the pandemic may peak. The modest flattening of the curve during the lockdown is giving us space to undertake this massive work.

In this regard, we have cleared some of our existing hospitals and declared them COVID-19 facilities. This has helped us to make available 555 standard beds and 308 ICU beds.

We are also putting up new permanent wards in Kopanong, Jubilee, Chris Hani Baragwanath and George Mukhari Hospitals. This will add 800 new beds which will be used for different purposes. This intervention will help speed-up our existing plans to increase capacity in these facilities using alternative building technology.

Two days ago, MEC for Health, Dr. Bandile Masuku, unveiled the first phase of the NASREC facility which will have 500 new beds.

All these interventions will create an additional 2 163 beds which will be used for different purposes during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

This week we received a generous donation of 30 000 units of personal protective equipment (PPE) from the Bank of China. This will go a long way towards ensuring that our health workers are protected.

We currently have six weeks’ worth of supply based on the current usage and we will continue to procure more stock.

Food Security Response

The Gauteng Provincial Government provides food relief to more than 200 000 households per annum as part of its food security programme. This we have done over the past five years. 

Since the lockdown, we have worked with various social partners to provide food relief to 19 000 households, reaching 98 000 people. On average, we distribute food packages to 2000 households per day.

In addition, we are providing food to more than 3000 homeless people daily in various temporary shelters.

The demand for food relief far outstrips our current capacity to provide to all those who are reporting that they are food insecure. We are working with social partners to increase food distribution to 4000 households per day.

This week we visited foodbanks in all the five food banks in our metros and districts. The current stock we have in our food banks will only last for two weeks.

As the provincial government and municipalities, we are reprioritizing budgets to respond to the demand for more food relief.

The following is the criteria for food relief beneficiaries:

• Current food insecure households, who are verified and confirmed by social workers;
• The homeless;
• The sickly;
• Child headed households; and
• Victims of Gender-Based violence

We have put in place very stringent measures to ensure that food goes to those who need it most and that there is no patronage networks nor political interference in the distribution of food.

A total of 24 donors have so far generously given food and other essential goods to ensure that we continue providing relief to the poor and vulnerable. We continue providing homeless people with temporary shelter, food and sanitizers.

We would like to thank all business people, NPO’s and NGO’s who are working with us to provide more food relief to needy families. We are calling for more donations to meet the growing food security needs of our communities.

Enforcement and Compliance measures

The Gauteng Provincial Government welcomes the arrest of 54 people in connection to the vandalism, arson and break-ins at public schools. We remain deeply concerned that more schools are continuing to be targeted by criminals who take advantage of the lockdown period. We are confident that our law enforcement agencies will bring the perpetrators of these crimes to book.

Our law enforcement and security agencies continue to enforce regulations and undertake anti-crime operations. So far, 10 126 suspects have been arrested and 9 624 cases opened. 7 481 suspects are currently awaiting to appear in court.

Once again, the Gauteng Provincial Government expresses its appreciation to the millions of people of Gauteng who have observed and adhered to the regulations of the nation-wide lockdown. We remain concerned that there are those who are not adhering to the regulations. 

We express our full appreciation to the law enforcement agencies for the continuous efforts to enforce the lockdown regulations, and bring to book those who are not complying.

We continue to call on law enforcement officers to carry out their work in accordance with the rule of law.

Economic impact and mitigating measures

Research points out that COVID-19 is having a devastating economic impact worldwide.

Guided by the National Command Council, the Provincial Command Council will adopt the Provincial Economic Response Plan.

In next week’s briefing, we will give more details on the economy.

Social mobilization and social solidarity

We havelearnt from the struggle against apartheid and the fight against HIV and AIDS that we need to mobilise various sectors to take responsibility and actively contribute to the success of our common objective.

In this regard, we welcome initiatives by civil society organisations, businesses, political parties and individual citizens towards combating COVID-19.

This afternoon, I will join the virtual launch of a Community Action Network (CAN) in Gauteng, whose aim is to galvanise communities to play their part in the fight against COVID-19, including contributing to food relief and mobilizing donations for medical equipment and volunteer health professionals.

Together, we can win the battle against COVID-19. We must continue Growing Gauteng Together.

We wish to thank all workers engaged in essential services, who continue to give their all since we started our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The health professionals, workers, emergency personnel, officers in security services – the police, traffic officers, military medical personnel, soldiers – are the true heroes and deserve our support as they work tirelessly to ensure that we succeed in our efforts to combat COVID-19.

We wish to reiterate the call to all Gauteng residents to play their part in the national efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

We urge all South Africans to abide by the golden rules:

• We call on everyone to wear a cloth face mask when in public places, especially crowded places. This can help slow the spread of COVID-19.
• Social distancing must be at least 1 metre away from other people
• Wash your hands regularly with soap and water for 20 seconds, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer after contact with any person, or after contact with frequently touched surfaces
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a flexed elbow or a tissue, then throw the tissue in the bin immediately
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
• Create a hygienic home, travel and work environment by cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces.