Coronavirus: doctors and hospitals prepare for further cases
While the Department of Health has announced the biggest increase in Covid-19 coronavirus cases seen in South Africa so far, doctors say the worst is still to come.
The number of Covid-19 infections has grown to 38 in South Africa, confirmed by health minister Zweli Mkhize. The figures increased by 14 from Friday’s confirmed number of 24.
The health ministry, in a statement, said the patients had been informed and that contact tracing is underway.
Speaking to Rapport, Dr Jantjie Taljaard, head of infectious diseases at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, said that South Africa is still in the early stages of the outbreak – in the process of restricting spread and containment.
He said there are so few patients that it is still possible for the government to do contact tracing and to put those who have come into contact with the virus into isolation or under quarantine.
It is also a positive sign that, so far, the only confirmed infections are people who have been abroad, with no local transmissions yet.
However, Taljaard said that hospitals and medical professionals across the country are preparing for the number of infections to increase dramatically, noting that the infection rate over the last 10 days has already climbed by over 19 times – from just two people a week ago.
This follows international patterns where the spread of the virus grew exponentially among populations. And nothing about the global spread of the virus suggests South Africa will be immune.
South Africa is also doing a relatively low number of tests, with only 1,000 done so far. Luckily most are coming back negative.
Government will hold an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday to discuss the way forward for South Africa as the number of cases mount.
According to documents seen by media groups, a number of measures could be put in place to curb the rate of infections, including a possible travel ban to the hardest hit countries, and cancelling events of greater than 1,000 people.
Read: ‘Drastic measures’ to stop the coronavirus in South Africa – including a travel ban
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