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The North West Provincial Command Council (PCC), led by Premier Job Mokgoro, on Saturday, 06 June 2020, gave an account of the latest update regarding the fight against the novel coronavirus in the province. A number of speakers took to the podium to report on a variety of issues of contention, including the reopening of schools for Grade 7 & 12, the procurement of sufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for essential workers, an assessment of the capacity that our provincial healthcare system can handle, and amongst other things, the large numbers of positive COVID19 cases coming from the mines.

As at Saturday, the province reported a total of 468 confirmed coronavirus cases. This marked a significant report as this was the first time that the provincial COVID19 burden nationally reaches the 1% mark. Analytically, the province now has more confirmed cases than 4 other provinces, including Limpopo, Free State, Northern Cape, and Mpumalanga Provinces.

Premier Mokgoro broke down the numbers at district level, and what the North West PCC seems to be concerned about was the rising numbers at the mines. Mines, under the National Lockdown Level 3, are allowed and regulated to operate at 100% capacity. Earlier in the week Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, called for all miners to be tested instead of only being screened for COVID19 at the commencement of return to work.

The Dr Kenneth Kaunda District and the Bojanala Platinum District houses most of the mining facilities in the province, and unsurprisingly the two districts have recently seen a spike in confirmed COVID19 positive cases. “The increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases in the mines is a major issue of concern to the Provincial COVID-19 Command Council and the MEC for Health, Hon Madoda Sambatha, has been visiting and engaging with the mining houses in the Province to assess the levels of compliance with lockdown regulations.” Said the Premier. The province has identified mines as hotspots. According to the PCC, mineworkers are screened before they could start work and those who come from hotspot provinces like Western Cape, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape should be screened and tested before they could start work.

“Mining companies carry the same obligations as all other employer organisations in the Province to follow strict health protocols adopted by the Provincial Command Council to make sure that mineworkers who test positive and their contacts are isolated at quarantine sites approved by Government.” Said the Premier.

Amongst the total of 18 local municipalities that the North West Province has, only 2 municipalities remain COVID19 free. These Municipalities are the Naledi local Municipality and Kagisano-Molopo Local Municipality. Bojanala Platinum District’s Rustenburg Local Municipality has the most cases with 271 cases, followed by Dr Kenneth Kaunda District’s Matlosana Local Municipality with 128 cases. The lowest number of cases were recorded in the Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District with a total of 5 cases in 3 of the 5 local municipalities.

“The Provincial Command Council has resolved to enhance our technical capacity to improve on research and epidemiological analysis in order to inform an effective response to hotspots areas.” Announced the Premier.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Zweli Mkhize confirmed the total number of coronavirus positive cases in South Africa to be 45 973. An increase of 2539 in the 24 hours that was. The North West Province has an increase of 59 new cases. “Regrettably, we report more 44 more COVID-19 related deaths: 25 in the Western Cape, 6 in KZN, 7 in Gauteng and 6 in the Eastern Cape. This brings the total national deaths to 952.” Reported the Minister. The North west Province still only has at least 1 fatality from the novel virus.

-The VIP Team

-NW PCC

-NW DoH

-National DoH

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