Premier Alan Winde has on Friday assured residents the Western Cape remains on track to implement a mass vaccination strategy, despite the temporary suspension of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

It also appears the Easter long weekend has not led to a surge in COVID-19 infections.

New cases, hospital admissions and deaths remain stable, while there are no signs of cluster outbreaks.

There’s still no indication of a third wave, with under 740 patients currently hospitalised with COVID-19 in the province.

This means authorities have been able to focus on vaccine rollout.

Winde said they had established high-level timelines and targets.

He’s confident all healthcare workers will be vaccinated before 16 May, with phase two scheduled to start on 17 May.

The aim is to vaccinate more than 723,000 people older than 60 years between then and the end of June.

Winde explained the rollout will move to another age bracket once about 70% of the target population is vaccinated.

The provincial plan is targeting more than 684,000 vaccinations for people aged 50 to 59 between July and October.

During that same period, it also aims to inoculate over 904,000 between 40 and 49 years old.