Fewer patients so PE stadium closed as Covid-19 isolation facility

Nelson Mandela Bay interim mayor Thsonono Buyeye announced on Thursday that the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium would no longer be used as a Covid-19 isolation facility as of Monday.

Speaking at a media briefing held at the stadium, Buyeye said that because of a decrease in the number of patients entering the facility, the municipality did not believe it was financially viable to continue using the stadium as a field hospital.

“We have seen the numbers of patients going down drastically and the argument was that the cost of running such a facility vs the people who are housed here was starting to become unjustifiable,” said Buyeye.

“Also, the fact that as the city, through our partnership with the business community, the VW plant is available and that it is also not housing as many people as expected.

“The projection from the health professionals was that August would be our peak, so we were anticipated that by this time this facility would be packed.

“But through intervention and the grace of God, we are seeing something completely different to what we had anticipated. On Wednesday, we took a decision that at the end of this month we are officially closing this site as an isolation venue.”

Buyeye said any new cases were being sent to the VW site.

He said the stadium could now once again be used for its original purpose: hosting sports matches and events.

He said the stadium would be sanitised and soccer team Chippa United would be able to use the venue as their home ground for matches when the new Absa Premiership season starts on October 8.

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