Health

1.   The forensic pathology service has a funded staff establishment of 299 posts.
2.  No. The Forensic Pathology Service only deals with deaths due to Unnatural causes of which a COVID related death is a Natural cause of death and therefor will not be admitted to the Forensic Pathology Service. There may however be unnatural deaths (e.g. murder, suicide, accident) where the decedent is a COVID-19 confirmed patient or a Patient Under Investigation (PUI) where the COVID-19 infection is still to be confirmed, these cases will be admitted to FPS for a medicolegal post-mortem examination. The Forensic Pathology Service is however making their expertise available to train Undertakers and Hospitals in the managing of these cases.
3.  The Western Cape Government along with all role players including local municipalities have been planning for potential COVID fatalities and includes looking at all existing storage facilities within the Province. The planning however is not as yet finalized.  COVID-19 decedents are deemed to have died of natural causes and will therefore not be admitted to the Forensic Pathology service for a medico-legal investigation of death.
4.  As at 6 May, there were 1122 recoveries in the province. It is not advisable to compare recoveries with areas as the person may have tested positive in an area and recovered in an area where there were isolating.
5. As at 6 May, there were 3771 people infected. It is impossible to provide information on who are essential workers as this category does not only include health workers.
6. As at 6 May, the were 186 health workers across public and private sector who tested positive for COVID-19 – 17 doctors, 66 nurses and 103 make up various other categories of staff.
7. We have more than doubled our PPE stocks in the past week and we now have R102 million worth of stocks on hand- with more on order.
8. (a) As the pattern of the spread of Coronovirus develops, it is clear that new clusters of infections are concentrated in the places where people congregate such as essential services. Examples have been grocery stores, factories, correctional services and health facilities.

(b) the Western Cape Department of Health closely supported by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, have published guidelines which provide guidance to various sectors in terms of their role in the safety of their workforce. The document provides guidance to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the workplace and what to do when dealing with infected employees.