The Acting Health Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, told SABC News on Sunday that the department will approach the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) this week on further lockdown restrictions.
Last week South Africa officially entered the third wave of Covid-19. The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed it and declared Gauteng the epicentre of the third wave, with more than 60 % of the new cases coming from the province.
On Sunday, the health department reported that 9 300 new cases had been recorded, 5 900 of which were from Gauteng.
What Gauteng officials say about further lockdown restrictions
Witwatersrand’s Professor Bruce Mellado told eNCA that the situation in Gauteng is worrisome.
“Gauteng is driving the number of positives, we have already five days in a row about 5 000 positives a day. What is more worrying is the acceleration in the number of cases we are experiencing in the province in that we have an increase of 74% in respect to the previous week, up from 37% so it is certainly worrisome.” he said.
At the moment, the Gauteng government is pushing for tighter lockdown restrictions in the province.
Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, said that Level 2 does not have a sufficient impact. He was speaking during his visit to Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic hospital on Saturday.
He also added that in order for the province to successfully curb the spread of the virus the residents should be compliant.
“We need the support of the people of our province, at the moment all we can say is that we are not seeing a difference in the number of people gathering at places,” Makhura said.
“No one should say ‘I got it (Covid-19) earlier on so I’m OK. I can walk around’ Even those who are vaccinated
should continue to put on their mask.”