The threat of COVID-19 continues to persist and with winter set to bring months of cold weather to South Africa, avoiding a third wave should be the government’s top priority.
India and UK variant discovered in South Africa
Some could argue that, with regards to the latter, the government may have failed its people. Right when the country’s vaccine rollout was picking up steam, a new threat infiltrated our borders.
The COVID-19 variant responsible for the mass deaths and infections in India has been detected in South Africa and fear has set in on the impact it will have since this mutation is notorious for its extremely high transmissibility rates.
On Sunday, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed that four cases of the B.1.617.2 variant were detected in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
These patients are in isolation and contact tracing has begun to catch on to the variant before it spreads exponentially. Of course, this is an incredibly difficult task to achieve in urban areas.
Moreover, 11 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant that’s prominent in Europe and North America were detected in South Africa, eight of which were reported in the Western Cape, two in Gauteng and one in KZN.
With eased restrictions on movement, fears are growing that a third wave could hit South Africa much sooner than anticipated.
Here are the most recent COVID-19 stats:
#COVID19 UPDATE: A total of 26 098 tests were conducted in the last 24 hrs, with 1 778 new cases, which represents a 6.8% positivity rate. A further 11 #COVID19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 54 735 to date. Read more here: https://t.co/t9LOKm6vND pic.twitter.com/kX31rL02ho
— NICD (@nicd_sa) May 9, 2021
These are the COVID-19 hotspots
Tracing teams working tirelessly to slow down the spread of COVID-19 have been zoning in on specific areas deemed as hotspots.
These are locations where COVID-19 positive cases are reported the most. Here is the full list of COVID-19 hotspots, provided by the NICD:
"Districts of concern" that have had an average rise of 20% or more #COVID19 cases in the past 14 days. The districts have been flagged by the @nicd_sa as “under observation”. pic.twitter.com/irTNpxJDcL
— Mia Malan (@miamalan) May 6, 2021