By Annisa Essack
25:06:2021

With more than 2.5 million citizens have received the COVID-19 vaccinations, including more than 100 000 educators, South Africa is now preparing for citizens from 50 -59 years old to begin the next phase of the rollout.

Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane says registration for people 50+ will open from July 1, and the administration of vaccines will begin from July 15.

The announcement follows reports of ever-increasing COVID-19 cases in Gauteng as frontline workers battle to manage caseloads at public and provincial hospitals.

On June 18, the South African Defence Force (SANDF) was deployed in the province to assist the Health Department amid the surge in Covid-19 infections.

Gauteng is currently the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic, having recorded 16 078 new cases on Thursday.

The Gauteng Covid-19 advisory committee head, Dr Mary Kawonga, said moving the province back to Level 5 would be too severe during a briefing on Thursday.

“We have a pandemic trajectory that has continued to increase. It is quite clear that alert Level 1 restrictions have not worked. We moved into alert Level 3, and we have not seen any impact yet.”

“We need tighter restrictions … but we need to balance health and economic considerations. The recommendation that we have been making is that Level 5 is way too stringent and will have a disastrous impact on people,” Kawonga said.

The Gauteng premier’s advisory committee on Covid-19 recommends the province be placed under a hybrid of Level 3 and 4 lockdowns.  She also agreed with other medical experts that it was too late for Level 5 measures.

Kawonga said that a hybrid of Level 3 and 4 might better balance the economy and people’s health. She added that other ways could be used to slow down the spread.

Meanwhile, healthcare workers are under immense pressure and complain about long working hours, heavy workloads, and a shortage of beds and oxygen.

During a press briefing on Thursday, Premier David Makhura says Gauteng doesn’t have enough beds for Covid-19 patients, and the province is looking at employing more workers as bed capacity increases.

A member of the premier’s advisory committee on Covid-19, Professor Bruce Mellado, said the infection curve was following the worst-case scenario, according to their projections.

As a result, the advisory committee recommended that the province be placed under a Level 3 and 4 lockdown hybrid. He said the peak was expected by the third week of July.

Professor Alex van den Heever from Wits University’s School of Governance described the government’s response as tardy. He said they are two weeks behind the crisis and should have closed pubs, shebeens, schools and enforced the rule that taxis drive with open windows.

The current COVID19 statistics in South Africa show the cumulative number of cases at 2 877 143.

The number of new cases is 16 078, with recent deaths at 148, bringing the total to 59 406. The recovery rate is 89,3%.