National flag of above military base at sunset 3d

By Naadiya Adams

South Africa’s Covid infections are on the rise, and they are rising fast. As Gauteng drives the resurgence, it nows makes up more than half of the country’s active cases – the province has a battle plan in place ahead of the wave’s peak that will see the South African Military stepping in to assist.

11 767 new Covid19 cases were reported since yesterday, 7502 are in Gauteng.  1242 cases in Western Cape, North West recording 737 new cases.

Acting Minister of Health, Mmamaloko Kubayi-Ngubane held a briefing on Friday morning with an update on the government’s progress in their fight against Covid-19 and an update on the vaccine rollout.

According to the Minister, hospitals in Gauteng are under pressure but there is no need to be alarmed as there are currently over 3000 beds available while a further 1000 beds will be made available soon. The infrastructure and the capacity to cope with an influx of admissions is there says the Minister, but there is a lack of manpower and health care professionals are under immense strain. That’s where the military steps in, especially medical professionals within the military who will go into hospitals and Covid care facilities to support the health care system throughout Gauteng.

“We have requested additional capacity to assist Gauteng in terms of military help that moved into the province to assist us swiftly…what this will do, we’ll be able to release the capacity of the beds that have been held as there was no human capital,” said Kubayi-Ngubane.

The military will also assist with mass screening and testing in the community as well as contact tracing.

Vaccine Rollout Update

At least 2 million South Africans have been vaccinate to date, but the roll-out has slowed in recent weeks.

South African educators are next on the list to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, a shipment of 300 000 Johnson and Johnson vaccines touched down in South Africa on Thursday evening, and teachers will begin vaccinations on Tuesday, June 22nd. Many teachers have already been vaccinated and fall within the 60+ category, the 300 000 vaccines will be administered over 10 days with more vaccines to follow for the remaining 200 000 or less teachers.

Once the teacher’s rollout is completed the security cluster and police services are next in line with 145 000 people needing vaccines, and further 36 000 support staff.

Gauteng has been seen opening up more and more, urging people from various groups to be vaccinated showing that the roll-out is going a lot slower than expected – people are just not coming out to get vaccinated. Various reasons attribute to slow turn out, transport is a major factor for many people, especially those 60 and above. There have been discussions around whether vaccinations will be done at a person’s home if they are unable to visit a site.

The Beta variant dominates SA cases right now and it is the strain driving the third wave. The Alpha and Delta variants first identified in India is still prevalent but not as strong.

South Africa accounts 43% of new cases being recorded on the continent according to the World Health Organisation Africa during a briefing on the resurgence in COVID-19 cases on Thursday.

Around 136,000 people have succumbed to the disease, while more than five million have tested positive for the coronavirus.

COVID-19 | Gauteng is epicentre of infections https://t.co/lK8SGeoHWn

— Heidi Giokos (@HeidiGiokos) June 18, 2021