The pace of vaccination in South Africa is very slow. So far, only five percent of the population has been vaccinated. Because of this, the country has once again come under the grip of Corona.
Health worker taking a sample of a person in South Africa (AFP)
The outbreak of COVID-19 infection is being seen once again in South Africa. The country’s economic center Gauteng province, where 25 percent of the population lives, is the epicenter of this infection. But cases are expected to increase in other major provinces as well. President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced strict lockdown restrictions to ease pressure on the health system and slow the spread of the virus.
Shabbir Madhi is director of the South African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit and co-founder and co-director of the African Leadership Initiative for Vaccinology Expertise at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has shed some light on the situation in South Africa. Based on limited studies of disease outbreaks, it appears that the delta variant of the virus is responsible for this recent infection.
In the coming weeks, the situation may worsen in other places of the country.
According to the latest research, it is also much more contagious and possibly more rapid-spreading than previous variants. The previous outbreak of COVID-19, which peaked in January 2021, was the result of the beta variant. The outbreak of the latest COVID-19 wave in South Africa varies by province and even within a particular province. The current situation in Gauteng, the country’s economic center and one of the nine provinces, is similar. It is believed that in the coming two to three weeks, the situation is going to be similar in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal provinces.
The current covid wave is more dangerous than before
Statistics from Gauteng show that the daily rate of COVID-19 infection in the current wave is two and a half times higher than in the peak of the first or second wave. Unfortunately, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of strict lockdown measures on Sunday is unlikely to stop this trend. It is feared that many more people suffering from COVID-19 will be hospitalized and lose their lives in Gauteng in the next two to three weeks. This is because severe illness usually takes two to three weeks to spread the infection in the community.
Cases expected to subside gradually
Shabbir Madhi said that looking at the sequence of the outbreak in India, we can expect that the number of cases will start decreasing gradually after that. He said it largely depends on whether people follow the rules, especially avoiding indoor gatherings in places that don’t have good air circulation and ensuring they stay indoors. Wear a face mask inside or in crowded places.
low vaccination challenge
Madhi said that the country has created problems for the people of South Africa even by not applying the vaccine on time. The ongoing vaccine program does not seem to meet even the revised targets set by the National Health Department. He said that so far, less than five percent of South Africans have been vaccinated, including less than a third of those over the age of 60, who were targeted to be vaccinated by the end of June 2021.
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