Mkhize swats away criticism as SA’s Covid-19 cases sky-rocket

Prof Salim Abdool Karim, who chairs the government’s Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee, says SA is still 'in a pretty good position' compared with other countries.Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has taken a swipe at critics who say the government was not doing enough to curb the spread of Covid-19 as SA recorded 100,000 positive cases.Mkhize said on Tuesday that as many as 4,000 cases had been recorded over a 24-hour cycle since the outbreak in March.

“Some have even publicly debated whether this increase in numbers means that there is a failure by government to effectively respond to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Today I want to publicly and boldly dispel such notions,” he said. As the epidemic looks right now, we are more or less where we anticipated we would be at this time of the epidemic.“We have said that we will be ready to deal with a large number of the cases that will be coming through, and today is part of the demonstration of our effort in that direction,” he said.

Prof Salim Abdool Karim, a leading clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist and government adviser, said this was “more or less” where experts predicted it would be in its fight against the pandemic. I don’t fully understand why it didn’t grow as fast in Gauteng, especially given that there is an international airport, and there are a lot of international travellers.Abdool Karim said that when the government implemented lockdown regulations on March 26 they were able to slow the spread of the virus “substantially”, but this had changed as the country moved to lower levels.

“When we were looking at projections in March, I would not have guessed that the epidemic would grow first in the Western Cape. All data we had suggested it would grow most in Gauteng, because of its density and large populations; we thought it would grow fastest there.

South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Positive Covid-19 cases rise to 97 302 with over 51 000 recoveriesThe Health Department said on Sunday that the number of positive Covid-19 cases had risen to 97 302, with 4 621 new cases reported from the last 24-hour testing cycle.
Source: IOL - 🏆 46. / 51 Read more »

Confirmed Covid-19 cases in SA pass 100 000 markHealth Minister Zweli Mkhize on Monday reported a further 61 Covid-19-related deaths – one from Limpopo, three from KwaZulu-Natal, 18 from the Eastern Cape and 39 from the Western Cape.
Source: IOL - 🏆 46. / 51 Read more »

LIVE | SA hits 100 000 mark with 4 288 new Covid-19 infections | News24BREAKING | 110 days after SA recorded its first case of coronavirus, we break the 100 000 mark with 4 288 new infections. 61 new deaths take the total fatalities to 1 991.
Source: News24 - 🏆 4. / 80 Read more »

WATCH: Mkhize on dexamethasone's effect on COVID-19 patientsHealth Minister Zweli Mkhize says the drug dexamethasone has a very limited, but helpful effect on patients.
Source: eNCA - 🏆 49. / 51 Read more »

Mkhize says SA is moving towards a ‘devastating and decimating’ Covid-19 ‘storm’The minister says as at 16 June, 3,583 healthcare workers acquired tested positive for Covid-19, and 34 succumbed to the disease.
Source: TheCitizen_News - 🏆 6. / 75 Read more »

PICS | Mkhize, VW open Covid-19 field hospital with 3 300 beds in Eastern Cape | News24The makers of the VW Beetle and famous 'Volksiebus' kombi may soon manufacture an innovative new ventilator - to help save Covid-19 lives. This as a 3 300 bed field hospital was opened in the Eastern Cape.
Source: News24 - 🏆 4. / 80 Read more »