Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize, has warned that if people do not strictly adhere to Covid19 safety measures during the festive season, the country is likely going to face a second wave of infections.
This as South Africa’s number of new daily cases continues to rise – with 2 563 infections recorded yesterday. The total number of cases recorded since the start of the pandemic is 787 702. The Health Department says 38 more people have died from Covid19-related illnesses, putting the number of fatalities at 21 477.
Mkhize says further safety restrictions need to be in place ahead of the festive season to help slow the spread of the coronavirus:
“One main advice I would give is yes it is festive season, but please be careful. If you are enjoying groups, please keep your distance and use your masks. The sharing of glasses and cigarettes needs to be stopped. People need to prevent the spread because if they are going to drop their masks and not be careful, we will have to enjoy the festivities with a lot more restrictions imposed by ourselves because being careful is going to help us. But if it doesn’t work, then the whole country is going to flare up into a second wave.”