Faizel Patel – 22/06/2021
Veteran health activist Dr Aslam Dasoo says the surge and severity of the Coronavirus in Gauteng during the third wave is a result of the province not being very much affected during the second wave of the pandemic.
Dr Dasoo was speaking to Radio Islam on Monday about concerns over the surge in COVID-19 infections in Gauteng, with President Cyril Ramaphosa warning that it poses a threat to both lives and livelihoods.
The province continues to bear the brunt of the third wave, with 66% of the total new cases reported during the weekend being in Gauteng.
Dr Dasoo says the healthcare system is not coping with the surge in Coronavirus infections.
“It’s not coping and not just because Charlotte (Maxeke) has been taken off the treatment matrix. The issues really is that there has been very poor management in anticipation of this wave. The surprising thing is that this wave was forecast already way back in March. There wasn’t really much active planning, in fact both for personnel and for beds.”
Dr Dasoo says the only thing people can do now is to abide by the lockdown measures and COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical protocols.
“We are in for unfortunately quite a bit of pain, I think for the next couple of weeks in this province and that’s the direct result of not being adequately prepared. The only thing we can now do is to take care of ourselves. The government has been very poor on the vaccination programme which if it had not been might have attenuated this wave significantly.”
Dr Dasoo says community leaders must “push” the message for people to stay at home, avoid gatherings and wear the facemask.
“We can avoid getting infected. This is no joke, the death rates are going to catch up in about two weeks to these high number of cases. It’s a real worry that people don’t seem to get it. Even in our communities and it is very dispiriting and depressing to hear even Imams playing down the risk and it’s totally irresponsible to do that.”
Dr Dasoo says Gauteng is expected to hit the peak of the third wave in about three to four weeks, adding that after that there may possibly be a slowing down of infections.
Listen to the interview with Dr. Aslam Dasoo
0 Comments