CAPE TOWN, April 29 (Xinhua) -- With the rapid spread of COVID-19, the Cape Town International Conference Center (CTICC) will be turned into a hospital for infected patients, authorities said on Wednesday.
The provincial cabinet in the Western Cape has agreed to use the CTICC as a temporary COVID-19 hospital, creating the capacity for the city to care for an additional 800 patients at the peak of the pandemic, said Western Cape Governor Alan Winde.
This came after Western Cape became the epicenter of the virus in the country, recording 1,870 confirmed cases and 38 deaths as of Tuesday, the highest numbers among all the nine provinces.
The Western Cape's scenario planning has predicted a shortfall of 1,000 acute beds in the province at the peak of the pandemic.
"The use of the CTICC will allow us to make up the majority of this shortfall and allow us to render care to those who need it," Winde said.
The province intends to make up the remainder of the shortfall with temporary beds in other facilities, in appropriate geographic locations, according to Winde.
The CTICC has been an important part of the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape, contributing to the travel and events economy and creating thousands of jobs.
Its use as a hospital to care for hundreds of patients during this global pandemic is its most significant contribution to the region yet, Winde said.
The mediate care beds will cater for patients, presenting with milder clinical signs who need hospitalization and treatment including administration of oxygen, he said.
The CTICC will not provide for care for patients with more severe clinical signs, which will require intensive care treatment, said Winde.
The site will be fitted out to be ready by the first week of June, well before the expected peak when these beds will be required, according to Winde.
"The City of Cape Town and Western Cape Government are working together to ensure a proactive and effective response to the pandemic," said Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato.
Due to the identified shortfall of hospital beds, the city needs to make use of the available resources at its disposal to adequately address the outbreak and to treat patients on a large scale, he said.
This hospital, together with 18 temporary testing and triage sites across the province, and a number of already operational quarantine and isolation sites, is part of the province's focused response to the pandemic. Enditem
