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A combination of relaxed regulations around meetings and the Easter holiday period could push South Africa’s third wave of Covid-19 onto the calendar, says Professor Alex van den Heever, chair of security systems management and administration studies. Social at Wits University.
Van den Heever said the citizen that the excess data on deaths shows that there are already indications in the Free State and the Western Cape that waves may be on the way.
“It is not clear that the government has come up with the most efficient configuration so far. The curfew was probably the most effective in reducing high-risk spreading events, ”he said. “However, large indoor religious gatherings represent an important potential driver for broadcasts over Easter weekend next month,” he said.
These concerns have been echoed by Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize, who said that there is worries during a third wave of Covid-19 after Easter weekend (April 4).
“We are all concerned about the possibility of a third wave or resurgence after Easter,” he said, adding that the virus will likely spread again as the country moves into winter.
Experts and officials previously expected that a third resurgence would only be seen in the country in early winter, around May or June, but it has also been flagged as a possible mid-to-late April start.
Easter time is typically a period of family and religious gatherings, vacations, and increased alcohol consumption, all of which have been closely associated with a growing number of Covid-19 cases.
Emergency shutdown
As in 2020, Nedbank economists have said that the rise of any additional Covid-19 waves and associated restrictions will have the biggest impact on the South African economy in 2021.
“More positive developments in the distribution of vaccines to a larger part of the population will boost confidence and willingness to spend,” the bank said in a research note on Wednesday (March 17).
“However, a resurgence in infection rates could result in stricter lockdown measures that could limit the expected rate of recovery, along with lingering concerns about job safety.”
Preventing future waves of Covid-19, and the economically damaging lockdowns that follow, will depend on the government being more effective in its vaccine deployment strategy. Unfortunately, the launch is much slower than anticipated.
As of March 17, only 168,413 people had been vaccinated.
The government had initially planned to inoculate 1.5 million people by the end of March, but vaccine shortages – and only administering about 6,200 a day – has made this goal impossible.
At the current rate, the government would take 17 years to reach its goal of 42 million vaccinated people.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has criticized the government for slow implementation, saying that if it does not pick up its game in vaccine implementation, the country will remain in an “endless cycle of lockdowns and Covid-19 infections, costing lives and they push millions into an inescapable cycle of poverty ”.
On Wednesday, South Africa reported 1,531 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total reported to 1,532,497.
Deaths have reached 51,634 (a daily increase of 74), while recoveries have risen to 1,459,056, leaving the country with a balance of 21,807 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 168,413.
Vaccines
Sinovac Biotech Co could supply South Africa with up to five million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine within weeks of obtaining regulatory clearances, Bloomberg reported, citing Business Day.
The vaccines could be delivered two to three weeks after approval is granted, Hilton Klein, chief executive of Numolux Group Ltd, Sinovac’s local partner, was quoted as saying by the Johannesburg-based newspaper.
A dose shortage may result in South Africa, which has the highest number of coronavirus infections on the continent, missing the goal of inoculating up to 1.5 million people by the end of March and 40 million by the end of the year, according to the government. . .
Read: South African bosses have no plans to hire more workers this year; this is what they want to do instead
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