President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet with the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) to discuss the government’s response to the third COVID wave, which includes the possibility of new restrictions.
Several bodies have strongly urged upgrading to a harder lockdown, including the South African Medical Association, the Gauteng Provincial Government, medical professionals, and now the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19.
Earlier this week Ramaphosa indicated that the government will have to increase its COVID containmant measure – especially in Gauteng province. He noted that the country’s first hard lockdown in March 2020, one of the strictest in the world, did help cut infection rates at the start of the pandemic.
South Africa recorded 17 493 new cases, a new daily high for the third wave, of which 10 806 were in Gauteng. Case positivity rate increased to 24.92%. A report released on Wednesday by the South African Medical Research Council showed that 1349 excess deaths in Gauteng for the week ending 13 June, of which 431 were due to COVID/
Warnings and failure to act
In an interview with The Money Show with Bruce Whitfield this Monday, Netcare CEO Richard Friedland had warned that the numbers of Covid-19 patients “are overwhelming facilities at the moment”.
Since Wednesday last week, Gauteng’s hospitals had been battling with a “mass casualty situation” , not unlike the aftermath of a train accident, or the collapse of a sports stadium, with “injuries on a massive scale”. But, with COVID, he said, the crisis is not over in a couple of hours, but remains ongoing.
With no evidence of a peak in case numbers, Friedland said that, “I’m afraid that these numbers are demonstrating that [without] a Level 5 lockdown in Gauteng, we may not see the end of this surge for some time.”
Professor Koleka Mlisana, co-chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19, says that tighter restrictions are likely needed to help curb infections.
Prof Mlisana said that the other major crisis is making sure that there are sufficient hospital beds in Gauteng. This includes additional facilities, staffing members and beds to ensure the system is not overwhelmed, she said.
Prof Mlisana said that this was down to a lack of preparation by the government, despite warnings from the advisory committees.
Source: BusinessTech
