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South Africa’s net death rate has decreased during the Covid-19 pandemic in the past five weeks, despite the 186 deaths so far.
This was one of the key points revealed by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Saturday during a press conference with Western Cape Prime Minister Alan Winde and MEC Health Nomafrench Mbombo.
The net drop in the national death rate was due to dramatic reductions in deaths from “interpersonal violence,” Mkhize explained.
This included far fewer shootings, stabbings, and gang violence.
He explained that there was also a reduction in road deaths and “less pressure” in medical facilities.
Mkhize confirmed that South Africa has 9,420 cases of coronavirus, with the Western Cape being the largest contributor to these numbers.
He warned those living in cities across the country that they might have to prepare for tighter restrictions longer, since all of the meters were coronavirus hot spots.
There would be no “one size fits all” approach to these blocking restrictions. Instead, each area would be evaluated in terms of its specific risk profiles, Mkhize said.
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When asked why the Western Cape had significantly more Covid-19 infections than the rest of the country, Mkhize said that one of the characteristics of the pandemic in the province was the outbreak of “clusters” of infections. These were mainly found in busy factories and shopping areas.
Supermarkets
Mbombo said the provincial government had developed a new “supermarket label” to guide the behavior of store owners and their customers.
Mkhize said he had been fully informed about the Western Cape government’s plans and was “satisfied”.
He suggested that the political dynamic between the ANC and the DA-led Western Cape government would play no role in allocating resources, saying that the province’s outbreak was considered “an outbreak in South Africa”, and that all national resources they would be available to combat it.
Mkhize said the government wants those who have tested positive but asymptomatic to be hospitalized, not necessarily for treatment, but to prevent them from infecting other people.
Quarantine
Likewise, those who had been in contact with positive cases would need to be quarantined, the minister said. If they couldn’t isolate themselves in their homes, they would have to agree to be quarantined at state facilities. A doctor would make this determination after inspecting those people’s homes.
Mkhize said South Africa was being hampered in its efforts to further increase testing due to a global shortage of test kits.
Winde said the provincial government had adopted a “government-wide” approach to “hot spots” and would deploy personnel from various departments and all necessary state agencies to deal with the pandemic. This, to ensure that the pandemic does not “explode” in these areas.
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