NELSON MANDELA BAY - COVID-19 HOTSPOTS ACROSS THE METRO NOW INCLUDE WALMER, UITENHAGE AND SUMMERSTRAND

Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Executive Mayor, Cllr Nqaba Bhanga has urged residents from new COVID-19 hotspots to emulate the behavioural change that has been adopted by residents of Motherwell as the City has recorded 1767 active cases and five deaths in the last 48 hours.

Following the COVID-19 Joint Operating Centre (JOC) meeting on Tuesday, Mayor Bhanga raised concerns about the new COVID-19 hotspots within the City, which include Walmer, Uitenhage, Lorraine, Summerstrand, Kabega, Algoa Park and Gelvandale.

“The latest report shows that the numbers are increasing and it is up to each one of us to turn the situation around and avert a deadly third wave in our City. Uitenhage and Walmer areas are our biggest concern right now, they are in the red zone. In Walmer there are 109 and in Uitenhage there were 115 active cases recorded as at Monday.”

“In Motherwell there are only nine active cases currently. This is the same place that gave us sleepless nights in the previous waves of infections but we are seeing a difference now and we must commend their efforts in assisting us to fight against COVID-19. They have shown us that if we self-regulate we can beat COVID-19. There were 155 new cases recorded in NMB on Monday while five deaths were reported in the last 48 hours alone. We do not want to learn the hard way again and we are pleading with the residents from these areas of concern to change their way of doing things and stop the social gatherings as we have seen that the economically active population and young people are the ones who are moving around and as a result are the most infected right now.”

The Mayor added that old age facilities remained areas of concerns following an outbreak at the Huis Najaar in Despatch on Sunday.

“We urge senior citizens to present themselves for vaccination as we need a herd immunity to win the war against the deadly virus. We are still seeing a low turnout for vaccination in some areas in our Metro. We are happy with the response of the elderly in most parts in Port Elizabeth but we are particularly concerned about the low turnout in Uitenhage. We would like to urge senior citizens in Uitenhage to present themselves for vaccination. The sooner the Department of Health can cover more elderly people, the sooner the rollout can move to the other groups.”

“The numbers are increasing in hospitals; public and private hospitals. The facilities are reporting that patients are in Intensive Care Units, some are on ventilators. We really can not stress this enough, COVID-19 is still with us and continues to steal our loved ones from us, but it is up to us to change the situation around. In his address last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa made it clear that law enforcement will play a role in helping government to flatten the curve again, as the City, our Safety and Security directorate will play its role to help turn the situation around while public education and awareness campaigns also continue on the ground.

NMBM