The Western Cape is expected to enter the third wave peak soon.
Wits University’s Professor Shabir Madhi says hospital admissions in the province are expected to increase.
He says the next two weeks will be critical for the Western Cape’s COVID-19 battle.
“Much of the increase is being driven by the Western Cape, the main reason for that is that Gauteng was about three to four weeks ahead of the curve with this particular resurgence compared to the Western Cape as well as KwaZulu Natal,” he said.
“As we went into level 4 restrictions that did perhaps slow down the rate of transmission of the virus across the country but Gauteng to a certain extent had already peaked when we went into level 4 restrictions whereas the Western Cape hadn’t.”
On Thursday, the country recorded 17,351 more COVID-19 cases.
The Western Cape’s reported infections have jumped from over 1,500 to 4,667.