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The South African government will re-implement higher levels of lockdown if a second wave of Covid-19 infections hits South Africa, but things will be handled differently this time, experts say.
Talking to Relationship, medical expert Professor Salim Abdool Karim said that if a second wave of infections hits South Africa in the same way as European nations, tighter lockdown restrictions will return, but this time, it will be at the local level.
He said the government is creating task forces to handle this type of lockdown, if necessary.
This would finally see the implementation of the lockdown ‘district model’ that was announced by the health department in May 2020, when the virus was still building its presence in the country.
According to the model, the country is divided into 52 different districts, and each one is evaluated according to its level of infection. At the time, districts with more than five new infections per 100,000 residents were considered Covid-19 hotspots and faced tighter restrictions.
However, despite the model being developed, it was never put into practice, and many provincial companies and leaders argued that it was unfeasible due to the integrated nature of many operations.
For example, how would a company do business if its operations spread across different districts? Or how would workers get to work if they had to travel across districts to do so? Each move to a different level blockade has been implemented at the national level since then.
According to Karim, the government is now better prepared to use the system. He told Rapport that the problem with the district model before was that it was difficult to monitor.
In determining hotspot areas, the health department will consider more than just infection rates, but will also take into account other things, such as bed availability, he said.
Changes to the advisory panel
Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize moved this week to dissolve the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) that has been helping deal with the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa.
Some MAC members on Covid-19 were informed by letter this week that the group is reconfiguring itself, Francois Venter of the University of the Witwatersrand said in a text message on Saturday.
The dissolution follows Mkhize’s announcement on Sept. 14 that he would reconstitute the committee, News24 reported, citing the letter. Others who have been informed of the change include Angelique Coetzee, the president of the South African Medical Association, he said.
While many committee members were informed that his services on the panel have come to an end, Karim said he was not affected by this and continues to work hard to collect data on a possible second wave.
Warnings of a second wave of infections come as South Africa continues to open the economy below lockdown level 1, while several European nations are seeing a major increase in new cases, some with higher infection rates than during the first wave .
However, a prevailing trend among these countries is that, despite the higher number of infections, the mortality rate is lower.
Karim said this is because it is the younger people who are being infected, the age groups where the virus is less deadly, and that governments have had time to better prepare their response to infections.
Read: The lockdown saw a rise in food prices in South Africa, with some groceries still more expensive than before
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