‘Second wave’ a flash in the pan

It is understandable that Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize is playing down the Covid-19 numbers. He may be a doctor, but he is also a politician and the coronavirus pandemic is moving, clearly, from the medical to the political arena.

This week, for the first time, Mkhize revealed that the infection curves – the graphs upon which so many have been fixated for so long – have already reached and passed the “inflexion point”, which is, effectively, where the line stops going up and starts heading down.

That’s been the case for a while now but Mkhize and others in the government do not want to be seen to be celebrating, for fear there is a sudden uptick in infections and they get accused of giving people false hope. So, it is logical that he would say he wants more time to be absolutely certain the downwards trajectory is not a flash in the pan.

He says he will not be happy until the daily infections reach a level of 1,000 or less across the country. Latest figures show daily confirmed infections are declining, but are still above 4,000… which means it might be some time before the minister is satisfied.

Too much good news, though, would not sit well with the hardliners within the government, who want to continue our lockdown even longer.

It is certain that the “state of disaster” will be extended by the National Coronavirus Command Council before it expires on Saturday. It also seems important, from an ANC perspective, that people are kept in a state of nervousness – hence Mkhize’s reference to the dangers of a deadly “second wave” of infections, which have so far happened nowhere else in the world.

While we appreciate the need for caution, surely we are entitled to some good news for a change…

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