- Additional deployment will enforce Covid-19 lockdown regulations in the Western Cape this weekend.
- Provincial authorities have warned that trauma cases could overwhelm the healthcare system.
- Trauma cases linked to alcohol use tend to increase over the last weekend of the month.
Western Cape residents have been urged to consume alcohol responsibly this weekend for fear that trauma cases could cause the healthcare system to cave under the additional pressure. Extra policing will be deployed to ensure compliance with Covid-19 lockdown regulations.
Critical care beds in the province are already at capacity due to the pandemic, News24 previously reported, and the healthcare system is under immense pressure, officials have warned. Trends indicate that trauma cases at hospitals tend to increase during the last weekend of the month and are exacerbated by the lifting of the booze ban.
Western Cape Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz has called on citizens to consume alcohol responsibly this weekend.
He said:
"We have seen a spike in cases, and we cannot afford our hospital beds to be occupied by patients presenting in trauma units with alcohol-related injuries," he added.
Fritz said extra policing will be deployed to monitor compliance and ensure that citizens observe the regulations. He added that the Western Cape Liquor Authority will undertake compliance and enforcement operations over the weekend.
He said:
Anyone who witnesses criminal acts or has information that will assist in arrests has been urged to phone the South African Police Service Command Centre at 021 466 0011.
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