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City encourages weekday burials amid increase in fatalities<p>The City’s cemeteries continue to experience an increase in burials week-on-week, as the metropole grapples with the third wave of Covid-19 infections.</p><p>In the last seven day reporting period, a total of 638 burials were completed at City cemeteries, up from 488 the week before.</p><p>Of these, 215 burials took place at Klip Road cemetery in Grassy Park, 130 at Maitland cemetery, 103 at Wallacedene and 74 burials at Welmoed cemetery.</p><p>At the Maitland cemetery, the availability of public graves has been impacted by a high water table, brought about by heavy rainfall experienced to date this winter. </p><p>‘What we are experiencing now is similar to the previous two waves of Covid-19 infections, when fatalities increased sharply. The City has sufficient capacity to accommodate burials, but if one considers the number of burials at Klip Road in the past week, that equates to an average of 30 a day, which means a lot of foot traffic in and out of the cemetery, increased risk of close contact and increased pressure on staff to manage the situation. We therefore need a collective effort to ensure that we are able to manage the situation effectively, and in the best interests of public health and safety,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.</p><p>The City urges funeral organisers to consider weekday burials to help alleviate the pressure on cemeteries, as well as alternatives to burial where this is not prohibited on religious grounds. </p><p>In the last week, the Maitland Crematorium completed 84 cremations, while 32 others were transferred to private crematoria while maintenance work on one of the cremators at Maitland was being finalised.</p><p>At the same time, cemetery visits will likely resume from 10 August, dependent on a reduction in the Covid-19 caseload. This is to ensure that cemetery operations can focus on the increase in burials currently being experienced.</p><p><strong>THIRD WAVE MANAGEMENT</strong></p><p>The City also urges continued vigilance among the public in general, to help mitigate the risk of infection during this third wave.</p><p>While the country has moved to Adjusted Alert Level 3, Cape Town’s infection and fatality rates remain high. </p><p>‘It is important that we all continue to abide by the health and safety protocols that have become a part of life since the start of this pandemic. This also applies to those who have been vaccinated. Remember, the vaccination reduces the risk of serious illness, but does not mean that you cannot contract Covid-19 and infect others, so the same rules still apply to everyone, vaccinated or not.</p><p>‘As the vaccination campaign extends to other age groups, I also want to renew my appeal to those who have qualified, but who have not yet registered, to please do so. Our public health facilities continue to prioritise persons 60 and older for walk-in registration and vaccination, as well as our 50 to 59 age group. The more people we vaccinate, and the quicker we do it, the sooner we can achieve population immunity and free ourselves from this pandemic,’ added Councillor Badroodien.</p><p><br><strong>End</strong></p>2021-07-26T22:00:00ZGP0|#1d539e44-7c8c-4646-887d-386dc1d95d70;L0|#01d539e44-7c8c-4646-887d-386dc1d95d70|City news;GTSet|#62efe227-07aa-45e7-944c-ceebacca891dGP0|#64b2591e-28b1-4fe1-8d55-fa078642a54f;L0|#064b2591e-28b1-4fe1-8d55-fa078642a54f|Burial;GTSet|#2e3de6c1-9951-4747-8f53-470629a399bb;GP0|#6199a1b2-2e64-4bd0-abba-c06ea746ee8b;L0|#06199a1b2-2e64-4bd0-abba-c06ea746ee8b|cemetaries10

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