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By Sihle Mlambo 
7h ago
Johannesburg – Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has invited district municipalities and provincial governments to present their plans to reduce the spread of the coronavirus during the holiday season.
On Wednesday night, Mkhize declared that the country had entered a second wave after new infections reached more than 6,000 daily infections for the first time since mid-August.
He attributed the spread to the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng. The four provinces accounted for a cumulative 94% of new infections.
Regarding the virus, by age, the age category of 14 to 19 and 35 to 39 had the highest number of new infections with 10%, followed by the category of 45 to 49, 30 to 34 and 25 to 29, which had 9% of Infections
People ages 40 to 44 and 20 to 24 accounted for 8% of new infections.
Mkhize said that the National Coronavirus Command Council and Cabinet would consider submissions from municipalities and provinces before President Cyril Ramaphosa made an announcement on whether stricter restrictions, possibly similar to those instituted in the metropolitan area of the Nelson Mandela Bay, would spread to more areas across the country. country.
When asked if stricter lockdown restrictions would be implemented before Christmas, Mkhize said: “I think we should take all the plans and proposals from the district municipalities and provincial governments, present them to the NCCC and the Cabinet and let them decisions are made at that level. ” .
He said the Cabinet would also consider additional measures that would be the subject of discussion, including the views of health workers and religious and traditional leaders.
“Without being able to know what level of restrictions, I think it is important that we say that there has to be some way to encourage more responsible behavior, a way that we can protect South Africans from behavior that shows a lot of complacency.
“We have to focus on the containment measures that we have always preached about: the use of masks, social distancing and disinfection, etc.”
Mkhize said they had requested proposals from municipalities and provincial governments to adopt a holiday season plan for the virus.
He called on people to be responsible and to act in moderation during the holiday season.
“Yes, the festive season is a time to enjoy, but we must enjoy it in measure and not to the detriment of other South Africans who may even lose their lives; that’s not a responsible way to have fun.
“The NCCC will deliberate and know what needs to be done when the president addresses us in due course.”
Mkhize said that when the country entered the second wave, people could not afford to have complacent attitudes towards the coronavirus and asked people to continue wearing masks, social distancing and hand sanitizing.
“I cannot say that the behavior change was never implemented. In the first wave, we attributed part of the decline in numbers to the fact that people had started wearing masks.
“If you compare with what happened at the beginning of the pandemic in March until the middle of the year, there were many masks and the people were very loyal.
“(The) majority did and that helped, and there was a big change in behavior. We need to emphasize the need for behavior change and strengthen behavior change, because we cannot afford Covid fatigue, ”Mkhize said.
MESS
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