Drop in new Covid-19 cases in Pretoria

EVEN though the number of active Covid-19 cases in Pretoria has dropped to below the 10000 mark, residents have been urged not to let their guard down just yet.

Executive mayor Randall Williams said yesterday that the City was encouraged by the week-on-week decreases in the number of active cases, considering that just last week the number stood at 10 470 active cases.

Williams said Pretoria had thankfully recorded a significant weekly decrease of more than 2 000 active Covid-19 cases, bringing the total tally of active cases in the capital to 7 641 as of Monday.

He said that on July 29 there were roughly 1 530 new cases, which had steadily decreased each day, down to only 558 new cases on Monday.

“I also want to encourage all qualifying residents to register to vaccinate as the City has 38 vaccination sites that are spread across all seven regions to improve accessibility for all qualifying residents,” Williams said

Pretoria’s progress has also seen it leading the pack in administering the highest numbers of vaccines in the province, a feat commended by Health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi.

Mokgethi also commended the province’s residents for their positive turnout at vaccination sites, particularly at the new sites this past weekend.

The MEC visited the Olievenhoutbosch and Atteridgeville sites to assess their performance and offer support to their teams, as well as to mobilise those eligible to get the vaccination.

“The fact that we have gone over 1 million people vaccinated during July and are fast approaching 2 million talks to the high demand in communities to get vaccinated, and the urgency with which we are approaching the vaccination roll-out programme,” Mokgethi said.

As part of ramping up the roll-out, the Gauteng government increased the number of public vaccination sites that were operational over the past weekend from four to 17 sites.

The majority of these sites, nine in total, are in the Tshwane district, with the remaining sites in Ekurhuleni and Joburg District, each with three sites, as well as two sites in Sedibeng.

All operated from morning to around lunchtime, with half of the sites operating on Saturday, while others opened on Sunday. A total of 5 449 vaccines were administered, with 2 377 administered in Pretoria, 1 988 in Joburg, 725 in Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng had 359 vaccinations.