Western Cape has record Covid-19 infections as death toll passes 5,000

The Western Cape's active cases of Covid-19 soared above 20,000 for the first time in Saturday.

The second wave of the provincial outbreak is significantly outpacing the first in the rate at which infections are spreading, and the number of cases has multiplied by almost six in the past month.

At 1pm on Saturday, there were 20,760 active cases in the Western Cape, compared with a high of 17,612 at the peak of the first wave on July 6.

The provincial government dashboard tracking the virus greets visitors with a memorial to the 5,000 people who have died of Covid-19 since the Western Cape's first mortality on March 22. The death toll rose to 5,043 on Saturday.

Cape Town is responsible for 11,276 (54.3%) of provincial infections but active cases per 100,000 people are highest in the Garden Route towns of Knysna, Mossel Bay, George and Plettenberg Bay.

Knysna, the most intensely infected area with 1,089 cases per 100,000 people, is three times worse off than the most problematic part of Cape Town, in the southern suburbs.

TimesLIVE