South Africa’s health minister, Joe Phaahla on Friday said he would not recommend a relaxation of Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown measures regardless of the downward trend in infections.
Phaahla said the country (of 60 million people) had fully vaccinated only around 4 million people as a wave of infections driven by the more infectious Delta variant strained over-burdened hospitals and health workers.
“Our situation therefore remains precarious. We will be recommending remaining at Level 3,” he said.
In a bid to stimulate the economy, President Cyril Ramaphosa, in July eased restrictions to an adjusted “Level 3” in a five-level system, as infections declined.
It means people can travel between provinces for leisure, and retail outlets may sell alcohol from Monday to Thursday.
Phaahla said the national positivity rate, which gives an indication of how widespread infections are, had declined from a high of 35 per cent in mid-July to an average over the last seven days of 19-20 per cent.
However, he noted that the World Health Organisation recommends the rate should be down to 5 per cent before relaxations are considered.
Senior health official Nicholas Crisp said registrations for vaccines had tapered off over the last two weeks, and urged people to sign up as South Africa aims to inoculate 28 million or 70 per cent of adults by the end of December.
“There will be a fourth wave, we have no doubt,’’ he said. (Reuters/NAN)
