AS the country has lifted the lid on some of the economic activity and people are starting to move around, South Africa must brace itself for the increase of COVID-19 infections.
This was the key message delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa during a visit to KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday to assess the province’s COVID-19 response.
The President was engaging with the provincial government and stakeholders on the province’s response strategies and progress being made to flatten the curve of the Coronavirus pandemic.
He said level 5 lockdown had done a great deal to put the brakes on the wave of infections that was meant to go up exponentially. However, the lockdown managed to level it off.
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“In that regard, we were able to ensure that with social distancing, chances of infections are lessened and that has paved us the way. In a way it was getting us prepared for a spate of infections that are going to continue rising,” he said.
While President Ramaphosa said he was satisfied that KZN had done a great deal to prepare for the challenge, the President said he would still like to see the province getting more ICU beds in order to deal with what is still yet to come.
“We’re informed that the worst is still coming. We are going to get more people who are infected. But the important thing is that we need to ensure that we lessen the pace in which these infections are going to take place. KZN is very highly populated.
“Professor Karim and his colleagues who are dealing with this disease in a scientific view inform us that as South Africa, we must expect that the rate of infections is going to increase,” he added.
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