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By Zintle Mahlati, IOL Reporter 
2h ago
Cape Town – The cumulative total of Covid-19 cases in South Africa stands at 767,679 with 2,270 new cases identified since the last report, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced on Sunday.
Mkhize said 58 deaths have been reported: Eastern Cape 28, Free State 13, Gauteng 8 and Western Cape 9. This brings the total to 20,903 deaths.
The cumulative number of tests carried out to date is 5,290,966 with 21,904 new tests carried out since the last report.
South Africa’s recoveries now stand at 710,099, which translates to a 92.5% recovery rate.
As the holiday season approaches, health experts warned that reckless action could lead to super-spreading events and a surge in infections in rural areas of the country.
The number of reported cases was stable for a few weeks, with an average number of cases of less than 2000.
But last week several cluster outbreaks had led to an increase in reported cases. The most important areas were in the Eastern Cape, Free State and Western Cape.
Even with the growing cluster outbreaks, the head of the Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, said that South Africa was not in a second wave and was not on its way there.
He warned of alarmist rhetoric and said the average number of cases in most areas of the country was low.
“South Africa is not in a second wave at this time and is not entering a second wave at this time. We have an outbreak in the Eastern Cape and in the Western Cape Garden Route area.
“If those outbreaks are not controlled effectively, we risk going into a second wave. In fact, we are in a good position of low transmission in the rest of the country,” Abdool Karim said Sunday morning.
Professor Glenda Gray, a member of the SA Medical Research Council, shared similar sentiments, who said that what was happening in the Eastern Cape was a classic case of community transmission driven by super spread events.
He said the increase in cases was not unusual at this time and was part of pandemic patterns.
“Ongoing transmission will always continue until we have a vaccine or herd immunity. There will be events that will cause outbreaks of super spread. Super spread events drive transmissions even further and affect people who were unaffected in the first phase of the pandemic, “Gray said.
Gray and Abdool Karim said they were concerned about the holiday season and people going to areas that were not affected by the virus, particularly rural areas.
“My concern is the December period when there are three things that are going to happen that worry me. Firstly, people become complacent during the holidays and stop wearing their masks and don’t do social distancing and the second is that they start to go party. and we will end with super spreader events.
“The third is that I am very concerned about intergenerational family reunions, children meet their parents and grandparents and put the elderly at risk. So those are the three things that worry me deeply in December and those three things could end. with us with a second wave in January, “he warned.
Abdool Karim said that the behavior of citizens will be the final marker of what happens next.
“We have to control our own behavior if we don’t want to be in a second wave in January.”
Gray said: “So what we have to do is make sure that when you go back to parts of the country that were not affected, you continue to practice your social distancing, wear masks and wash your hands.”
“We are more concerned about people who are older and have comorbidities. So when people return to see their loved ones, they must remember that it is their duty to protect those people from contracting Covid,” he said.
The government, through President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mkhize, had indicated that there was a possibility that cluster outbreaks in different regions could require the closure of those areas. But there has been no action on this measure.
Abdool Karim said stay-at-home orders (closings) could only be useful in extreme situations and that the current measures being applied are enough to keep cases low, if they are followed.
“Stay-at-home requests are just something that should be considered as a last resort. Right now we have many tools that we can use to control the spread of the virus.
“They are not (orders to stay at home) something that would be easily considered anytime soon. It would be something we would think about if hospitals are being overwhelmed and the spread is not controlled and people are not listening. It would have to be in a very advanced stage as a last resort, “he said.
MESS
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