Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize has sounded a lot less optimistic about South Africa’s chances of skirting the worst of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Covid-19 infections continue to rise in South Africa
The country’s latest figures show that more than 50 days into the nationwide lockdown, nothing has stopped the spread of the virus. Sunday saw the biggest daily jump since the first Covid-19 case was reported in March.
From 21 314 tests conducted, 1 160 patients tested positive for Covid-19 in the 24 hours preceding Sunday 17 May. That takes the total infection tally to 15 515. Deaths resulting from Covid-19 also increased by three, making it 264 casualties claimed by the virus.
A silver lining perhaps is that 7 006 patients have reported recoveries from Covid-19. Therefore, in reality, there are 8 509 known active cases in the country.
Mkhize: ‘Infection rate increase is worrisome’
While these figures are dwarfed by global statistics, Mkhize did express his concerns with the rise in the infection rate, stating that this should not be the case in a society that has been placed in quarantine.
Speaking on Radio 702’s Breakfast with Bongani Bingwa, the minister said:
“We hope that we ultimately get rid of all the coronavirus problems in the country. But we are worried about the rate of the spread, which is too fast and the trajectory, which is in the Western Cape, is something that has to be intervened upon and we are working on that. But the real issue is, you can’t have one province accounting for over 60% of the figures in the whole country and that province’s population is about 13%-15% of the country’s population.”
Western Cape fails dismally to contain Covid-19 spread
The Western Cape remains the epicentre of Covid-19 in South Africa. The DA-led government has tried to greenlight its district-based approach to curbing the virus’ spread but the greater priority has been to force the government to lift the lockdown.
In a recent statement, DA leader in the Western Cape Bonginkosi Madikizela argued that the lockdown feels more like house arrest, a politically driven campaign to place authoritative rule over South Africa.
“Death is something that will visit all of us at some stage, and we can’t stop living our lives because we are scared of it,” he cried.
Of course, these utterances were widely dismissed. Mkhize noted that at some pointt in the near future, South Africa will be forced to reopen the economy, as infections keep rising. However, it is not a decision that must be made hastily, he said.
“People must have food, must go to work and because of that we must open the economy while we can see the infections are rising. When people call and say they don’t like the lockdown, we understand it’s true. I also don’t like it but I don’t it if we had any other option.”
