West Rand active virus cases jumped to 244 in 8 days – Makhura

‘The mining sector has contributed substantially to 21% of all the new cases in our province,’ Makhura said.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura wants mines to test all their employees. Photo: Screenshot

A presentation by Gauteng Premier David Makhura on Friday revealed the West Rand has seen a jump in active cases over the past eight days.

In the previous Covid-19 update by the provincial command council on 20 May, it was revealed the West Rand had 72 positive cases, which consisted of 43 recoveries, 26 active cases and three deaths.

Fast forward eight days, and the West Rand now has 306 positive case of which 58 are recoveries, 244 are active cases and four deaths.

This means active cases have jumped from 26 to 244 in eight days.

Of the 306 cases on the West Rand, 69 are in Mogale City, 20 in Rand West City, 134 in Merafong City and 83 are unallocated.

“You can now see that suddenly the West Rand coming from 26 active cases, now it has 244 and most of these cases have happened in Merafong, that Mponeng mine we visited.

“The mining sector has contributed substantially to 21% of all the new cases in our province,” Makhura said.

On Monday, News24 reported underground production at AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine had been closed until further notice after 164 people tested positive for Covid-19.

As of Friday, Gauteng had 3 329 Covid-19 cases, with 2 019 recoveries and 31 deaths.

Johannesburg remains the district with the highest number of cases at 1 556, followed by Ekurhuleni with 693 and Tshwane with 436.

Remaining district breakdown:

Sedibeng: 75 cases.

West Rand: 306 cases.

Unallocated: 263 cases.

In addition, 203 people are currently hospitalised at public and private facilities in the province.

Of the 12 951 contacts traced in the province, 10 105 have completed the 14-day monitoring period with no symptoms reported and were subsequently de-isolated.

The allocation of cases in the province is an ongoing process.