South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday warned provincial departments to be prepared for a rise in cases in the coming days as the country is currently hit by the third wave of Covid-19, reported News 24.
In a note widely distributed on Wednesday, Mkhize said that the rapid rise in coronavirus cases means that the country is now experiencing the start of a third Covid-19 wave. He added the numbers would no longer go down unless the government starts intensive containment measures. He encouraged provinces to intensify response programs.
The South African Health Department warned that Covid-19 infections rose 46% in the last week, adding that some areas are fast approaching a resurgence threshold.
The warning was issued after Mkhize reported 2,759 new cases over the past 24 hour period, the highest daily infection rate in the past few weeks.
“As of today, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is 1,602,031 the total number of deaths is 54,968 the total number of recoveries is 1,519,734 and the total number of vaccines administered is 430,730,” the minister said.
According to the Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19, a new wave would be declared if the seven-day moving average of new cases gets above 30% of the average at the peak of the previous wave.
South Africa’s second coronavirus wave peaked in mid-January this year, with a seven-day moving average of about 18000 cases per day. For a new wave to be declared nationally, the seven-day moving average of new daily cases would have to be above 5500 cases.
As per data collected by the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the current daily average of new cases numbers over the past seven days was about 1600 cases per day.
South Africa is currently the worst COVID-19 affected nation in the African continent.
