A coronavirus field hospital set up at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) will admit its first patients on Monday.
The facility officially came online on Friday and it’s one of several temporary medical facilities and quarantine and isolation facilities established in the province to deal with the predicted spike in infections.
The field hospital at the CTICC has been named the Hospital of Hope.
The facility will create an additional 862 intermediate care beds for COVID-19 patients.
Premier Alan Winde has thanked all provincial government staff and service providers for their work in ensuring that the project could be completed in four weeks.
He has wished patients who’ll be receiving care there a speedy recovery and has thanked the healthcare workers who’ll be helping them.
Winde said the provincial government was also currently exploring the potential for a second 800 bed hospital at the CTICC 2 in order to meet the bed numbers that their updated models anticipate would be required at the peak of COVID-19 infections.
At the opening of the Hospital of Hope last Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa had some feedback for the Western Cape authorities, flagging serious concerns about the provision of hospital beds.
He encouraged the province to rather over provide than have a situation where there are not enough beds for patients.