South Africa has managed to flatten the Covid-19 curve in the first five weeks, and the easing of lockdown restrictions is done against the backdrop of scientific evidence presented to government.
This is the opinion of Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, who earlier today joined a panel of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) in reflecting on how countries in Africa are dealing with the worldwide pandemic.
Joined by Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, and Prof Kojo Ansah Koram, an epidemiologist and the former Director: Noguchi Memorial Research Institute, Mkhize said since the first case was reported on 5 March, the country has made great strides in its efforts to curb the pandemic.
Asked about the lessons learned in the early stages of handling the pandemic, Mkhize said the initial decision on how to respond was a collaborative effort by government, cabinet, labour and the country’s political parties.
“We were advised early on that we should prepare for big numbers. This led us to implementing containment measures as the infection numbers could not exceed our capacity numbers.”
The minister said more than 60 000 health workers had been trained, and efforts were reinforced by various non-government institutions, including global funders.
“Relaxing the lockdown measures, we are taking a risk-adjusted approach, taking into account food security issues and the recovery of our economy. Scientific research has guided our response to the pandemic, and we appeal to citizens to now adhere to lockdown regulations, just on a more relaxed level.”
On a question of the relative low infection rates against that of the international world, Mkhize said several factors could have contributed, including an overall younger population that could probably handle the virus better, and the fact that Africa was among the last continents to have recorded a first case and thus had the opportunity to respond faster.
Mkhize added that isolating patients early was another step in the right direction. This, and educating communities on issues of social distancing, and hygiene, such as wearing masks and using sanitiser.
Speaking about how Ghana has dealt with the pandemic, Koram explained that a national coordinating committee was initially established.
“We initially tested a group of a 1 000 people, of which 10% tested positive for Covid-19. At this point, we made the decision to quarantine the group to give health services the opportunity to do contact tracing and collect samples.”
Koram said the country, where its capital city of Accra was pinpointed as the epicentre of the virus, had initiated a three-week lockdown period.
“We learned that we had underestimated our testing capacity, but quickly made work of it and instead of waiting to receive suspected positive cases, we went into the population to test people and extract them from their communities.”
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, commenting on the Covid-19 situation in African said South African and Ghana were among the first countries to implement closures the countries’ entry points.
“It has been three months since the organisation declared Covid-19 a health emergency. We have more than 34 000 confirmed cases in Africa, and 1 500 lives have been lost.”
She said the decision to ease regulations on movement was a decision that had to be weighed carefully.
“Countries are easing restrictions against the balancing of people’s lives and livelihoods. Political and technical decisions have to be made in light of economic fragility.”
She said it remained crucial to control transmission and that widespread testing proved valuable in this regard.
“Communities must be informed so that they can adhere to hygiene measures. We can create a new normal and restart going forward responsibly. It is imperative to manage the economic and health risks, and there is a great deal that countries can learn from each another.”
In light of International Labour Day being commemorated tomorrow (1 May), Moeti thanked essential services workers across the continent for their selfless efforts in fighting Covid-19.
“I’m advocating for safe and healthy workplaces everywhere,” she concluded.
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