An increase of Covid cases since reopening of schools

An increase of Covid infections has been noted in KwaZulu-Natal and other provinces around the country since the reopening of schools at the beginning of the month. Over the weekend, the National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) said overcrowding at schools was the major contributing factor to the rising numbers of Covid school infections.

This follows the rise of new Covid cases in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases of South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal recorded 1,979 new infections on 10 August. On 11 August, the figure nearly doubled to 3 603 new cases reported.

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The high infection rate in Kwa-Zulu-Natal continued over the weekend with more than 3,000 new infections recorded on both Friday and Saturday. General-secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) Mugwena Maluleke said a few schools had to close as a result of pupil cases reported. “Since the reopening of schools in KwaZulu-Natal, we have seen a rise in KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape due to community transmissions rising.

“We have observed that pupils are getting infected and in particular those schools that have begun sporting activities,” Maluleke said. Maluleke added the Eastern Cape and Free State were also being monitored. He said the infections were rising despite social distancing being applied.

Mugwena said Sadtu would comment on a national level about the online admissions applications once all provinces have released dates and progress. On Friday, the department of basic education in Gauteng said more than 100 000 Grade 8 online admissions applications were captured in the first week.

“It has been a few days since the Gauteng department’s 2022 online admissions application system opened last Tuesday and we can confirm there have been more than 100 000 successful phase one applications,” spokesperson Steve Mabona said. He said that by Friday the department had recorded 104 504 successful online applications.– marizkac@citizen.co.za