{"id":7840,"date":"2021-04-06T17:54:21","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T17:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?p=7840"},"modified":"2021-04-06T17:23:36","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T17:23:36","slug":"experts-say-its-too-early-to-call-easter-covid-19-spike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-say-its-too-early-to-call-easter-covid-19-spike","title":{"rendered":"Experts say it\u2019s too early to call Easter Covid-19 spike"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Cape Town – The province has shown a 5% increase in Covid-19 cases with 381 more infections reported over the Easter weekend. However, health experts say it is too early to talk of a third wave as countrywide figures have not been tallied.<\/p>\n

CSIR senior researcher Dr Ridhwaan Suliman said in a TV interview: \u201cWith the recent easing of restrictions and the current holiday period, we just have to wait and see if it will have any effect on the infection rates. There is a lag period.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll provinces have flat-lined or shown slight spikes within the last couple of weeks. They have all stabilised, which is good news. There is certainly ongoing community transmission so we need to be really vigilant.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to what to expect from the Easter holiday infection numbers, Dr Suliman said: \u201cIt is difficult to predict.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the provincial Covid-19 dashboard, as of 1pm yesterday there were 280 607 active cases in the Western Cape.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, April 1, the number stood at 280 226, meaning over the past four days 381 more cases have been confirmed over the Easter holiday.<\/p>\n

Head of health Dr Keith Cloete said new Covid-19 cases had shown a slight increase of 5% across the province, but had mostly plateaued out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are now seeing a similar number of cases, admissions and deaths that we were seeing in October 2020, the lowest period between the first and second waves<\/p>\n

\u201cNo major clusters have been identified, but the teams on the ground are watching the situation carefully. We will continue our surveillance to track infections, and to intervene early to manage \u2019bush fires\u2019 where increases are detected,\u201d Cloete said.<\/p>\n

With regard to the vaccination roll-out, Premier Alan Winde said: \u201cIn order to roll out as many vaccines as we can, we all have an important role to play in delaying a third wave as much as possible. How we act and behave during this time between waves is crucial.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for vaccine authorisation, South African Health Products Regulatory Authority chief executive Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela said: \u201cWe registered the Covid-19 Vaccine Janssen on March 31. This registration signals a significant step in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) spokesperson Dumile Mlambo said: \u201cAs of March 31, the Sisonke study had successfully vaccinated more than 250 000 health workers nationally ahead of the expected third wave.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will support the national health system so that it is in a robust position to respond to the surge expected in the coming months,\u201d said Mlambo.<\/p>\n

At the same time political analysts have commented on the connection between the vaccine roll-out and perceived instability in the ANC overshadowing the focus on the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Political analyst Ralph Mathegka said: \u201cThe ANC is in charge of government, so the internal wrangles appearing within the party certainly will not give confidence to what the party is doing in government. I mean, if you look at the roll-out of vaccines, clearly it is the work of a broken party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Economist Dawie Roodt said: \u201cEven if there were no infighting we would still have to wait forever and a day for them to get everything done because of their massive incompetence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said: \u201cSome of the battles in the ANC have a negative spillover, but there are other complexities at play on a global scale that are also presenting challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town has accused the world of practising \u201cvaccine apartheid\u201d.<\/p>\n

Preaching at the Easter vigil at St George\u2019s Cathedral, Makgoba said: \u201cVaccine nationalism has already taken hold. The voluntary vaccine supply mechanisms, such as Covax, and the bi-lateral agreements used to procure vaccines across the world are failing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are failing especially for the global south, where we can with justification say that the poor of the world are suffering from vaccine apartheid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cape Argus<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cape Town – The province has shown a 5% increase in Covid-19 cases with 381 more infections reported over the Easter weekend. However, health experts say it is too early to talk of a third wave as countrywide figures have not been tallied. CSIR senior researcher Dr Ridhwaan Suliman said in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":7839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-7840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nExperts say it\u2019s too early to call Easter Covid-19 spike - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cape Town - The province has shown a 5% increase in Covid-19 cases with 381 more infections reported over the Easter wee ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/experts-say-its-too-early-to-call-easter-covid-19-spike\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Experts say it\u2019s too early to call Easter Covid-19 spike\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cape Town - 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