The DA in the Western Cape welcomes the decision by the National Minister of Health to end the remaining Covid-19 regulations after they were first enforced at midnight on 26 March 2020, almost 820 days ago.
While we welcome the policy decision that has been taken, it is certainly long overdue. Since the beginning of June, there have only been approximately 5 400 cases with half of these residents having already recovered.
The Western Cape province has also experienced a much lower resurgence during the fifth wave than previous ones which occurred. This is largely due to the efficient vaccination programme the Western Cape has rolled out, with more than 3 million people registered to receive the vaccine – more than half of our population.
Over the past few years, the provincial Department of Health has initiated many programmes as a part of our Covid-19 response, such as:
- This year alone, R198 million was allocated towards our vaccination programme with R777 million going towards the province’s Covid-19 response.
Last year, the Western Cape transformed the CTICC from being a major field hospital that healed thousands of patients to a vaccination centre that was able to vaccinate more than 4 000 people per day. - Additionally, the EMS Vaxi Taxi initiative was established to provide greater access to the vaccine where uptake is slow, as well as to building strong relations with community stakeholders. This excludes the Vooma weekend vaccination and social mobilisation programmes.
- With the Department of Transport and Public Works, the Red Dot Taxi Service started to transport public healthcare workers and also take people who couldn’t afford to travel to vaccination sites.
MPP Wendy Philander says: “With the final Covid-19 regulations having been lifted, we are able to look back at the commendable work which the Western Cape has done to save both lives and livelihoods. This period of upheaval has provided us with many lessons as a country. We are now finally able to focus on recovery and ensure that out province builds back better.”
