Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has called for caution as thousands of people prepare to return to work on Monday when Level 3 of the lockdown comes into effect.

He’s appealed to employers and employees to adhere to the strict safety regulations.

The Western Cape has more than 19 000 cases, the highest in the country and 472 fatalities.

Winde says, “We will be moving to alert Level 3 so many more businesses will be opening on Monday and again this is a new normal that we are going back to.”

“We have to make sure that we all change our behaviour we know what the rules are, we must stick to them – mask, social distancing, hand sanitizers, soap and hygiene.”

He adds: “We have to make sure that we minimise the spread because what we don’t want to do is move the province back to any high lockdown levels to slow this virus.”

Earlier this week, Winde expressed concern over a huge backlog in the processing of tests for COVID-19 in the province, which affects the rate at which results can be released.

According to Winde, there’s been a 400% increase in the number of tests conducted in the province since the end of April. He further said the province has a backlog of almost 18 000 tests, which needs to be processed.

“We still have an issue with the backlog in our tests which is very difficult because testing is your ability to measure and gives your ability to manage. We have already engaged and written to the President and engaged with the Minister of Health on this issue. Our backlog now stands at 18 000 and we really need to find a solution to this. If you cannot measure, you cannot manage.”

Source: SABC News