Western Cape premier Alan Winde wants the declaration of the national state of disaster and the curfew imposed under it to end as he believes it is no longer the appropriate tool for dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Winde wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday calling for a reassessment of the declaration of the national state of disaster saying at a media briefing that SA’s hospital system was not burdened to the same extent in the Omicron-fuelled fourth wave as it was in previous waves.
While more transmissible there is preliminary evidence suggesting Omicron is less severe than the previous Delta variant, many people have already been infected with Covid-19 and many have been vaccinated, all of which has resulted in fewer hospitalisations. There are more than 1,500 Covid-19 patients in Western Cape hospitals.
SA is now at level one regulations issued under the Disaster Management Act in terms of which a national state of disaster is declared. The national state of disaster was extended in November until January 15. The first declaration was made on March 15 2020 and SA has been in this situation continuously since then.
Winde said that even before the fourth wave he believed there had to be a re-examination of the disaster regulations because it was a tool that had been used for too long.
“The reason we have lockdowns is to protect our health system. We asked at the end of the third wave that our medical teams, our disaster teams, our local government teams and our economic teams get together to have a look at what we should be doing to manage future waves of Covid-19 to get the balance right — protect our health system but at the same time enable the economic system to work while also creating an environment in which citizens can get to operate in a new normal.
“Even before the fourth wave we were already in a position to present to the President’s Co-ordinating Council on this but then the fourth wave came along. We didn’t know what the variant (Omicron) was going to be doing and it is evident our hospital system is not burdened like it was in previous waves.” There had been fewer hospitalisations and fewer deaths from Covid-19 in the fourth wave compared to previous waves.
“Based on the science, the data and the facts we have, this says to me we have to relook at the disaster regulation system and to relook at the curfew. We have to find new normal ways of living with the next waves. At some stage we have to end the declarations and I think it is about now.”
Winde said at the last meeting of the President’s Co-ordinating Council before SA was hit by the fourth wave, Ramaphosa had said the disaster declaration system needed to end.
The council consists of ministers, premiers, executive mayors of metropolitan municipalities and the leadership of the South African Local Government Association and has been involved in developing government’s strategy for dealing with the pandemic.
Winde noted that while the Western Cape had not passed the peak of the fourth wave the number of cases of Covid-19 had slowed down and was beginning to plateau. The signs were “very encouraging”, he said.
Western Cape head of health Keith Cloete said the province was averaging about 4,000 new cases per day and there were about two deaths per day. The reproduction rate was about one which meant that one person infected 10 others.
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