As positive cases exceeded 10 000 yesterday, it emerged that the government acknowledges that its coronavirus projections are ‘fluid’, and is balking at calls to release the information for fear of causing panic or stigma.
The government’s position was reported in the Sunday Times.
Health minister Zweli Mkhize announced last evening that positive cases now stand at 10 015, and the death toll at 194, with eight more Covid-19 related deaths reported yesterday.
So far, 341 336 tests have been conducted, with a record 17 257 tests in the latest 24-hour cycle. The highest rate of testing is being done in the Western Cape, which said yesterday it had conducted 61 771 tests so far.
The number of recoveries across the country was 4 173 by Saturday.
The Sunday Times reported that the government was shying away from releasing some Covid-19 modelling and projections data to avoid panic in communities and possible stigma, saying the projections were fluid and not ‘Gospel truth’.
The report said experts believed that limiting the flow of scientific data on the pandemic meant that government would be making decisions on the reopening of the economy based on data that was not known by citizens.
But it said that, according to Presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko, government was withholding models to avoid having them being considered as the ‘Gospel truth’. Diko told the newspaper that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research had said the projections were fluid, and that the government did not want to publish information that could change.
With the cigarette ban continuing – and continued silence from the government on when the controversial restriction might be lifted – News24 reported yesterday that it took one of its reporters just four minutes and 28 seconds to find a trader willing to sell cigarettes.
‘With Level 4 lockdown in place and the sale of cigarettes prohibited, smokers have not had to search long and hard for a fix, as supply has been made available on the black market, it appears,’ the report said.
The thriving illegal trade in cigarettes is a source of concern to South Africa’s Revenue Service (SARS), whose commissioner, Edward Kieswetter, said last week that an estimated R1.7 billion had been lost on tax revenue from cigarettes and alcohol since the lockdown started.
Kieswetter said SARS was concerned about the loss of revenue on these sin taxes, but was more concerned about fuelling the illicit sale of cigarettes and alcohol.
In other virus-related news
- AFP reported that Brazil, the hardest-hit Latin American country in the coronavirus pandemic, has surpassed 10 000 deaths, according to figures released on Saturday by the Ministry of Health. While Brazil’s numbers are high – 10 627 deaths and 155 939 confirmed cases – scientists think the real figures could be 15 or even 20 times worse, given the country’s inability to carry out widespread testing;
- The news agency reported that the United States recorded 1 568 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 78 746. The US has now confirmed a total of 1 309 164 cases;
- At least 277 127 people have died since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP, with at least 4 001 437 cases of coronavirus registered in 195 countries and territories; and
- The Guardian reported that a recent study by Chinese researchers on 38 men infected with Covid-19 found that six (about 16%) also tested positive for the virus in their semen – which increases the chances of the virus possibly being sexually transmitted.