Professor François Venter says it is unclear who is advising the government on the lockdown regulations.
Another top scientist and member of health minister Zweli Mkhize’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 has come out in support of Professor Glenda Gray, accusing the government of not consulting the country’s top scientists on lockdown regulations.
“The bottom line is, I think, we all supported a science and epidemiological approach, we’re just not sure who is providing that advice at this point because it’s not the main MAC.” Another MAC member and head of infectious diseases at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Dr Yunus Moosa said: “Each party has had his or her say and I believe we are better for it.
“This strategy is not based in science and is completely unmeasured. [It’s] almost as if someone is sucking regulations out of their thumb and implementing rubbish, quite frankly. Mkhize said in a statement on Wednesday night Gray’s views were based on “factually incorrect and unfounded statements.” “What I can say is that the MAC did not discuss the lockdowns or the nature of them or what was being done around them,” he said.
“It’s a countrywide fear that we don’t know who is making these decisions or why. Just explain. It doesn’t have to be perfect, we don’t have to agree either. But at least give us a rationale for some of the reasoning,” Venter said.“This is a social contract with society – the masks, the hand-washing, the respect for each other – it’s hinged on trust,” Venter said, adding there were signs the legitimacy of government’s scientific explanations was being undermined.
News24 asked the Gauteng department of health for clarity on child malnutrition numbers at the hospital on Thursday but no response had been received at the time of publication.
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