IN QUOTES | Alan Winde on the Western Cape's Covid-19 response

Western Cape premier Alan Winde answered questions on the province's response to Covid-19 on Wednesday.

He addressed key issues such as poverty alleviation efforts and the need to reopen the economy to prevent long-term economic collapse. 

There are 92,983 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Western Cape, 1,545 deaths and 76,835 recoveries.

Two pandemics 

“I'm very proud of how we have dealt with this pandemic. Our health response has been exemplary, world class. But we have pandemic number two which is starting to bite, which is unemployment.

“We need to find a new balance and make sure that more businesses can open. I want an urgent meeting with [Nkosazana] Dlamini-Zuma of Cogta on how can open up the economy.”

Averting a second wave 

“We're learning as we go, every day ... I see that masks and sanitisers do work as my wife and daughter who were in direct contact with me, were not infected.

“I think now more than ever before, [we must be] making sure that we stick to the new normal because that is how we can avert a second wave.”

A comprehensive local response

“Before the declaration of [the] state of disaster, we had already started joint operations and coronavirus command meetings. Everybody was running out of PPE in other parts of the world, and we needed to make sure that we don't run out of beds.

“We had to have a comprehensive local response and make sure that we were overcompensating ... I'm so happy that we haven't reached some of those early projections that were being said to us by the modellers.”

Helping the hungry 

“It will take a long time before we get the economy right, but we will be discussing this next week as one of the key issues that as the province we will be focusing on.

“I think there are lots of gaps in the system that we have to analyse ... There are thousands of meals that are being delivered every day and pupils are getting meals every day. I think the NPO sector has also stepped up in the past few months.”

Hotspots 

“We must keep running with our plan across the province in the hotspots as each area needs different focuses.

“We ask every single person in this province to join us in taking on their own individual responsibility to be part of making sure that we are keeping this curve as flat as possible.”

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