Plan to curb swine flu in the province

By Khanyisa Tabata
10 August 2009


The Western Cape provincial government together with the rest of the world is now facing a H1N1 pandemic. The Provincial Department of Health has actioned operation to minimize the impact of the effect of the H1N1 virus in communities.

Western Cape Health Department has dedicated to the Cape Gateway a call centre so that they can deal with any queries that people may have.

“The most important thing is that we realize that the spread of the virus is inevitable and are spreading freely from individual to individual.

“As provincial government we need to inform people about the symptoms and precautions. This week health workers will focus on the dissemination of H1N1 information to their local community stakeholders” said Western Cape Minister of Health, Theuns Botha.

The Western Cape Education Department has set up a monitoring mechanism to monitor the spread of the H1N1 virus in provincial schools.

The mechanism requires principals to report the number of suspected cases of the virus at their schools to circuit team managers. Principals must also report the level of learner absenteeism.

On Friday, 7 August 2009, a total of 190 Western Cape schools reported suspected cases of H1N1.

The most affected districts are the Central, North and East education districts.
The early figures show an average learner absenteeism rate of between 20% to 25%. The normal absenteeism rate at this time of the year is about 20%, reflecting the peak of the annual flu season.