Health

(a) As we have seen in other places in the world, the risk for a possible second wave of COVID-19 continues to remain in the Western Cape. To prevent a second wave requires individual and collective responsible behaviour. By wearing a mask when in public, keeping a safe distance of at least 1,5 metres from others, by regularly washing your hands, and by avoiding large crowds and gatherings where there is poor ventilation. 

(b) The Department has been implementing a thorough surveillance system which allows the local health teams to hunt clusters of infections, through contact tracing, pattern identification and testing. It is this surveillance system which enabled the identification of recent cluster of infections.

Our Surveillance system involves five steps to prevent community transmission of the virus.

• Heightened Vigilance: Each day the contact tracing team in the health districts receive a list of positive cases- drawn from our COVID-19 database.
• Identify patterns that suggest outbreaks: The case managers call each case and advise them to isolate. They will also ask additional questions to establish if they have attended a social gathering or where they work - trying to spot patterns.
• Confirm patterns using data and local knowledge: Once a pattern is spotted, the case managers will dig deeper. They will confirm the pattern looking at all available data sources.
• Activate a multisectoral response: Once the local outbreak is confirmed, the focused containment strategy is activated, and role-players are activated to manage the outbreak. A multisectoral response including Education, environmental health and others in the area was activated.
• Monitor for change: The contact tracing teams will then monitor the response to see if there are increases or decreases in the number of cases linked to the specific event.