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Gauteng Prime Minister David Makhura.
- Checks and screenings will be carried out in Gauteng to ensure there is no increase when people return from vacation in January.
- Prime Minister David Makhura will meet with law enforcement agencies on Thursday on a plan for the holiday season.
- He said Gauteng’s numbers did not indicate the need for another strict lockdown.
Gauteng Prime Minister David Makhura says the province’s Covid-19 numbers do not indicate the need for another total lockdown just yet.
On Wednesday, Makhura briefed the media on measures to strengthen the province’s health department and announced a new health MEC.
“At the moment in Gauteng, there is no case to have measures like the confinement. We all know that the confinements can have a big impact and we have to weigh things very well. We are not there, the numbers do not indicate that there is a need for that. “, said.
On Wednesday, News24 reported that the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) agreed that there should be a 10pm curfew on Covid-19 hot spots across the country, alcohol sales should be restricted from Monday to Thursday, and pubs and taverns should close at 9:00 p.m.
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Makhura said he did not attend the NCCC meeting and was not in a position to comment on what was discussed.
“I’m sure the NCCC will take into account the interest of the people of our country, but it will also look at the trend in each area. If we had a big increase in January or February, I can’t tell you what we are going to do then,” he added .
Last week, during a briefing, Makhura warned of a possible increase in January when people return from vacation. To avoid this, he said, the health department would be implementing medical controls.
He said:
“Let me tell you that when they come back in January, we will do what we normally do when people return to the province. We are going to conduct health-related operations, along with law enforcement operations, to make sure we do exams and tests on the main roads “.
He also expressed confidence in his newly elected MEC of health, Nomathemba Mokgethi, and in a newly designated intervention to help prevent another increase.
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“The new MEC for health together with the intervention team and the department under the direction of the acting HOD [head of department] “We have to make sure that Gauteng province has learned from the June / July increase, has better capacity and is better prepared for January, especially as a lot of people are moving out of the province and will return in January.”
On the subject of discrepancies in the provincial Covid-19 statistics, Makhura said: “Those of you who have always checked our reports will know that there was always a variation between the district numbers and the numbers for the whole province.
“There was always variation and we were very transparent about it. When we receive the new infections, the source of the numbers comes from both the public and private sectors. [so] it takes us time to reconcile [those numbers]. “
