Covid-19 claims 17 lives in Nelson Mandela Bay in 24 hours as virus surges

Seventeen people with Covid-19 have died within 24 hours in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Acting mayor Thsonono Buyeye said the latest report tabled by the health department on December 1, during the city’s Covid-19 disaster management forum meeting, painted a grim picture.

“We have learnt that in the past 24 hours in our hospitals, we recorded 17 deaths - 14 of those occurred in the private sector and three in the public sector,” Buyeye said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Life Mercantile Hospital recorded 10 deaths yesterday, St Georges had four and Dora Nginza recorded three deaths for yesterday alone.”

The deaths were recorded as the national coronavirus command council met on Tuesday to consider proposals for tighter lockdown restrictions in areas seeing a renewed surge in infections and deaths.

Infection numbers have been rising in the Eastern and Western Cape. All planned events in the Western Cape's Garden Route region have been banned until further notice due to rising infections.

The death toll in Nelson Mandela Bay was 1,788 as of November 30, while active cases were 3,521.

“We would like to encourage residents to seek the government quarantine sites if the situation is not conducive in their homes for them to quarantine or self-isolate,” said Buyeye.

“We do not wish to lose more people in our city to this deadly virus. The numbers of patients in the intensive care units [ICU] are increasing every day.

“We are told 109 patients are currently in ICUs, with 95 in private hospitals and 14 in public facilities. Forty-three patients were on ventilators with 42 of them in private hospitals.

“We again call on our residents to take this virus seriously. Each of us by now knows of someone who has died due to Covid-19. It is painful to see so many people die when some of these deaths could have been avoided if everyone complied with the regulations.”

Buyeye warned earlier that “stricter restrictions are needed in the city” or the virus would spread uncontrollably.

TimesLIVE