Is Gauteng on the verge of tougher Covid-19 lockdown rules?

Gauteng could face stricter lockdown measures if the increasing surge in infections continued at its current rate, said premier David Makhura as he welcomed the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) military health service at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.

Makhura said Gauteng’s public and private healthcare institutions were under tremendous pressure as they battled a Covid-19 third wave and had to seek help from the national government as they tried to contain the spread of the pandemic.

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“Tomorrow, we have our coronavirus command council meeting and we will do an assessment. Anybody can see that Covid-19 pandemic in Gauteng is really raging,” he said yesterday.

“I can’t say that what we have done is not enough, but we cannot rule that out that we may need more restrictions.”

He said while in the second wave the province peaked at 6 900 daily infections, it had currently surpassed the number and it was apparent that Gauteng was on fire when it came to Covid.

“As a premier, I don’t want to send a message saying everything is okay. The message must be clear. I want to say to the people of the province: the house is under fire. We will not change this trajectory of the pandemic if we do not do certain dramatic things.”

“The chances of getting infected are extremely high wherever you are.”

The premier, together with health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi, said the SANDF would augment health staff in the province as they felt the healthcare sectorwas under pressure with 5218 patients in both the public and private sector.

Makhura also said a change of behaviour would help a great deal in slowing down the spread and while government alone could not win the fight against the virus, citizens needed to cooperate by limiting mobility and avoiding gatherings.

“Restaurants are full, people are walking in and out, they are crowding. There is some false sense, including those who have received a vaccine, that the situation is normalising,” he added.

He appealed to people in and around the province to take the lockdown regulations seriously. According to epidemiologist Dr Jo Barnes, only 0.8% of the population was fully vaccinated as of two days ago.

“This is extremely low and far below what the country needs for even a small measure of protection,” Barnes said.

Numerous government spokespersons keep citing the difficulties in procuring vaccine supplies as the reason for the huge increase in cases but, said Barnes, that was not the full story.

“There are several management issues that contribute to this continuing rise and fall in cases.

“The education and information campaigns to help get the public to understand why the simple but irritating prevention measures are so important are seriously lacking,” Barnes said. “

The only widely displayed instructions are those up at every shop and place of business instructing everyone to wear a mask and to keep a safe distance. That is an instruction, not an explanation.”

There was no vital reason why only those over 60 years should be vaccinated first.

“In vaccine coverage, every person vaccinated is a gain,” said Barnes. “The over-60s were chosen because the carry the highest risk of serious disease and will fill up the hospitals soonest.”

Barnes cautioned opening vaccinations to everyone may cause uneven coverage over age groups.

“The resentment that will cause may give rise to very poor compliance with vaccination campaigns in the future,” she said.

reitumetsem@citizen.co.za