{"id":455928,"date":"2020-12-09T19:36:13","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T17:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=455928"},"modified":"2020-12-09T19:53:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T17:53:01","slug":"mkhize-declares-second-wave-of-covid-19-in-south-africa-as-new-cases-pass-6000-in-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/455928\/mkhize-declares-second-wave-of-covid-19-in-south-africa-as-new-cases-pass-6000-in-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Mkhize declares second wave of Covid-19 in South Africa as new cases pass 6,000 in a day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has announced that South Africa has officially been hit by a &#8216;second wave&#8217;\u00a0 of coronavirus infections &#8211; and that an increase in cases is no longer confined to select &#8216;hotspot&#8217; areas.<\/p>\n<p>In a media briefing on Wednesday evening (9 December), Mkhize said that four provinces are the key drivers of this new wave:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Eastern Cape;<\/li>\n<li>The Western Cape;<\/li>\n<li>KwaZulu-Natal; and<\/li>\n<li>Gauteng.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Up to the last week, the increase was mainly in Eastern Cape and the Western Cape in specific districts. But now we have numbers that indicate we are in a second wave,&#8221; Mkhize said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We look at the number of tests done, the positivity rate, the number of positive cases, the numbers of people who are admitted, and the number of fatalities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Health minister added that South Africa has also breached the 6,000 mark in daily infections, with 6,709 cases reported in the country over the last 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p>Mkhize said that the age distribution of infections has also shown a different pattern form the norm. The age group 15-19 years showed the highest number of cases over the past two days.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We are now is a second wave. Four provinces are the key drivers of this new wave. They are EC, WC, KZN &amp; Gauteng. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MediaBriefingCOVID19SA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MediaBriefingCOVID19SA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrZweliMkhize\/status\/1336719376708489216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 9, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Mkhize said that &#8216;pressure&#8217; due to increased coronavirus cases has built up in a number of provinces, and after provincial visits this week, his department plans to submit reports to president Cyril Ramaphosa&#8217;s cabinet.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We now need to understand we have a responsibility to enjoy the festive season with restraint,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NyCFIW_tOUA\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In a national address last week, Ramaphosa identified three areas in South Africa that were of particular concern for a sharp rise in the number of new infections:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nelson Mandela Bay (EC);<\/li>\n<li>The Garden Route (WC); and<\/li>\n<li>Sarah Baartman District (EC).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of the three areas mentioned, only one was officially declared a hotspot region, with further restrictions put into place to curb the spread of the virus. However, each region has its own warnings in place to identify problem areas on a more granular level.<\/p>\n<p>While Ramaphosa said that these areas could still face localised lockdown restrictions, it is not clear if the emergence of a second coronavirus wave will see the introduction of a higher lockdown level nationally.<\/p>\n<p>Mkhize said that &#8216;clarity on further restrictions&#8217; will be made after meetings with Ramaphosa and cabinet.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/455886\/these-are-the-hotspots-in-south-africas-three-covid-19-problem-areas\/\">These are the hotspots in South Africa\u2019s three Covid-19 problem areas<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has announced that South Africa has officially been hit a &#8216;second wave&#8217;\u00a0 of coronavirus infections and that an increase in cases is no longer confined to select &#8216;hotspot&#8217; areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":385899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-455928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455928"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455944,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455928\/revisions\/455944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}