The National Institute of Communicable Diseases has confirmed that Gauteng is now the epicentre of the widespread virus, Covid-19. In May, NICD Acting Executive Director, Prof Adrian Puren said that although South Africa had not entered the third wave on a national level yet, the situation was worrisome and that the country could reach the threshold in a few weeks time.
“If members of the public rapidly implement meticulous social distancing and adhere to non-pharmaceutical measures, transmission will decline and the third wave will be delayed. And with the vaccination of elderly people scheduled to commence next week, delaying the third wave will provide more time to vaccinate those most at risk for severe disease, and will thus save lives”, Puren said.
South Africa has entered third wave
On Thursday, NICD confirmed that South Africa has technically entered the third wave and now exceeds the new wave threshold as set by the Ministerial Committee. The MAC advisory defined the new wave 7-day moving average threshold as 30% of the peak incidence of the previous wave.
The majority of cases were from Gauteng (61 %), followed by the Western Cape (10 %). Free State and North West both sat on 6 %.
