Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, announced on Wednesday that the province has a total of 45 767 confirmed COVID-19 cases of which 31 824 (70%) have recovered.
On 17 June Winde confirmed that the province had 12 738 active COVID-19 cases of which 1419 patients were hospitalised and 243 patients were taken up in ICU or high care. In all the sub-districts in the Cape Town Metro, the recovery rate is above 70%.
Globally, a total of 4 414 672 patients have fully recovered. There are currently 3 532 711 active cases of which 98% have mild symptoms.
There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel after the announcement earlier this week when the United Kingdom researchers released tremendous positive initial findings around the use of the steroid Dexamethasone in critically ill COVID-19 patients.
Winde said, “the preliminary findings have shown a reduction in mortality in patients who are being ventilated and to a lesser degree, in those who require oxygen support.”
“The Western Cape Department of Health has received the recommendations of the Ministerial Advisory Committee and we are currently finalising clinical protocols for the use of the drug. I must, however, stress that this drug is not a cure and it is not for use in patients with milder symptoms. We are however encouraged that it has the potential to be life-saving for some of the people most severely impacted by this disease.”
