Media Release: Update by Premier Alan Winde on the Coronavirus

15 March 2020

On Friday afternoon, I convened a special meeting of the Provincial Cabinet and the work-stream cluster leads at the Disaster Management Centre to coordinate our government’s response to the Coronavirus. 

Our health response teams are working around the clock, and our work-streams are meeting regularly to ensure a significant, all-of-government effort.

It is critical that we, working together with national government, and all our partners, do everything we can to stop the spread of this virus.

This is an international crisis. We are not confronting this challenge alone - and so we must learn from the experiences of countries all over the world.

What we know is that if we take steps now to stop the spread, we will be in a better position than if we don’t. This means difficult, but decisive action is needed now.

We look forward to the National Government’s Cabinet decisions later today. We are confronting COVID-19 together as a country and we must work together now more than ever.

In anticipation of this, I will again convene a special Cabinet of the Provincial Government this afternoon so that we can coordinate our government’s response accordingly.

As we do this, my call on all residents of the Western Cape is to help us limit the spread of this virus.

You have a role to play to protect yourself and your families. If we do so, you will protect our communities too. We are all in this together.

We need our residents to know the following:

If you develop flu-like symptoms, do not panic. Please self-quarantine. This means you must limit your contact with other people.

Then, also, please call the National Coronavirus Hotline (0800 029 999) or health practioner for further advice on what to do next. Stay home, except to get medical care as directed by the hotline or advice of health practioner – do not go to work, school or public areas.

We should all be practicing good hygiene at all times, such as washing our hands thoroughly and regularly with soap and covering our nose and mouth when we cough or sneeze with a tissue or the crook of your arm.

We have already launched an awareness campaign to ensure all our residents are aware of all this information, and this will be ramped up. 

We will also resource a provincial hotline to support the National Coronavirus Hotline, so that we can manage queries and support National Government’s effort.

The global Coronavirus pandemic is constantly evolving and we know that the sooner we act, and the more interventions we put in place early on, the better off we will be.

We will provide further updates later today following announcements by National Government and our own Provincial Cabinet.

Issued by Bianca Capazorio, Spokesperson for Premier Alan Winde, 14 March 2020