Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele says the Cabinet had again extended the national state of disaster to October 15. Cabinet approved that the country should remain on alert Level 3 of the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Gungubele said at a post-meeting of Cabinet.
However, health minister Joe Phaahla has warned that South Africa is not yet past the third wave of infections in the country and that it is likely to face the fourth wave of Covid-19 cases in November.
Phaahla said the third Covid-19 wave continues to behave unpredictably and is notably different from the country’s first and second waves.
He said that the long tail of third-wave cases is a particular concern, as the country faces moving from one wave of cases straight into another over the summer.
“The third wave is dragging for longer. Sometimes it looks like there will be a steep downwards trend, and then it rises again.”
In the absence of new variants, what this means is that many South Africans are not observing the prescribed precautions, he said.
“The risk of this is that by the time the fourth wave comes – which is predicted to come around sometime in November, possibly driven by a new variant – it may find us still at the tail end of the third wave, which will mean that our health facilities and our health workers would not have had much rest.
“This is something that is worrying, and we urge all South Africans to observe the known protocols,” Phaahla said.
Source: IOL
In other news – Miss SA’s book hit the shelves
Miss South Africa Shudufhadzo Musida’s book, Shudu Finds Her Magic, will be available in stores from today, 2 September.
The beauty queen wrote the book as her Miss World passion project. Learn more
