As Saturday marks the 100th day of the nationwide lockdown, South Africa continues to record high numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths daily.
One-hundred-and-eight (108) people have succumbed to the virus in the last 24-hour cycle pushing the national death toll to 2,952.
On Friday night he health ministry said 9, 063 new cases were reported with the total number of infections now sitting at 177, 124.
Eighty-six-thousand-two-hundred-and-ninety-eight (86, 298) people have recovered from the virus.
With over 66,000 infections in the Western Cape, authorities at the Tygerberg Hospital say despite rigorous planning and preparation -the facility is still overwhelmed by the number of COVID-19 patients.
At the start of the pandemic, the hospital became a designated COVID-19 site.
Eight-hundred-and-eighty-five (885) people have been treated so far.
The South African Medical Research Council this week co-hosted a webinar where doctors shared their experience of treating patients diagnosed with the disease.
The first COVID-19 patient was admitted to Tygerberg Hospital on 26 March. Since then 221 patients have received care in the intensive care unit (ICU) at the facility.
Tygerberg Hospital Intensive Care Unit Head, Doctor Usha Lalla said: “ICU is such a difficult place, it’s a very high rate of burnout in your normal pre-COVID time. During COVID it seems to have intensified by a thousand.”
But there is hope.
Lalla says support and communication between colleagues can help them navigate through this time.
“Not just as Tygerberg Hospital but across all platforms; communication between different hospitals, different disciplines, different doctors speaking to each other – and that’s my advice to everybody.”
Four-hundred-and-forty-four (444) adult patients and all 135 paediatric patients admitted to the hospital were successfully treated.