As positive cases in South Africa rose by 145 to 2 173, a leading scientist warned that the virus would likely ‘be with us’ until a vaccine was found, which could take up to two years.
There was no room for complacency.
In an interview with News24, Professor Cheryl Cohen, the co-head of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases’ Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis and an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of the Witwatersrand, said it was likely the number of cases ‘may come up’, and that it was ‘accepted that the number of cases we see reported is not all the cases’.
She said the lockdown had bought the country time to prepare and roll out mass testing campaigns intended to identify cases in communities, find hotspots of infections and take measures to prevent further spread in those areas. Testing had yet to reach the ambitious levels of more than 30 000 per day as intended by the National Health Laboratory Service, according to the report.
According to City Press, a lack of coordination between government departments, and failure to inform residents and the police, was undermining bold government efforts to roll out Covid-19 coronavirus mass screenings, testings, tracing and tracking programmes.
The report said that ‘compounding the frustration are the health, police and defence ministries not being on the same wavelength’.
‘SA Police Service and SA National Defence Force officers enforcing the lockdown were – instead of working together with communities – turning back residents attempting to get screened and, if possible, tested for the virus in accordance with instructions from the health department.’
In other virus-related news
- For the first time, all 50 states in America are under a disaster declaration;
- Deaths in Britain were expected to exceed 10 000 yesterday, while some 1.8 million cases have been confirmed globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 109 000 people have died while 405 000 have recovered;
- In Spain, the number of daily reported deaths rose by more than 100 yesterday, following a nearly three-week low on Saturday. Spain’s health ministry reported 619 deaths, up from 510 on Saturday as a three-day run of declines came to an end, according to the BBC;
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a video recorded after he left hospital following intensive care treatment on Sunday that ‘things could have gone either way’ in his struggle against the virus; and
- Pope Francis celebrated Easter Sunday with a Mass held behind closed doors at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. He is also to replace his traditional address to crowds at St Peter’s Square with an online message. Last year, more than 70 000 people joined the celebrations.