Rumours of return to lockdown level 5 refuse to die down

As rumours swirl about reverting to Level 5 of the lockdown, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says no decision has been taken.

“And certainly the National Coronavirus Command Council does not take lightly a decision of that nature,” SAnews.gov.za reported Mkhize as saying yesterday.

“There may be a need in some areas for restrictions; it may not be national but localised. But no such decision has been taken as yet. We are riding into the storm but, together, we will prevail.”

Uplifting words notwithstanding, bodies are piling up and a secondary Covid-19 crisis is looming if the national lockdown remains at level 3, funeral directors have warned.

This as authorities braced for a surge of cases and deaths following the relaxing of restrictions this week, sparking fears that the worst was yet to come.

Those in the front lines of dealing with the pandemic are concerned about their safety and that of others as the struggling health system posed further risks of infections.

This is according to Vuyo Mbandisi, of the SA Funeral Practitioners Association.

As of Tuesday, cases in Gauteng reached 42 881 with 10 534 recoveries and 216 deaths. But Mbandisi suggested the death toll could be higher, judging by the large volumes of natural causes deaths with unconfirmed test results for Covid-19.

“What is happening now as we are talking is that most hospitals are full, so they are now turning people back to die at home, obviously because there are no beds,” he said.

“Some of them have been tested and have the results and others not. So, whenever an undertaker is called to pick up a body and it is unspecified natural causes, chances are that body is also positive. But because we do not know, we are now finding ourselves having to treat every case as positive.”

Mbandisi, who is the owner of Vuyo’s Funerals in Johannesburg, said he has had to build a separate storage facility for Covid-19 bodies so his employees do not get infected.

“Gauteng is in trouble, let me tell you. Every week I am burying two or three bodies and if the numbers keep going up we are going to really struggle.”

At Helen Joseph Hospital, some staff members are believed to be living in fear for their lives.

– simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.