As the country hunkers down for a second week of lockdown, how reliable is the data available and will it enable a sound decision for whether South Africans can leave their homes on April 16?
Speaking to the media on Wednesday night, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said, “We will only fight coronavirus with facts and evidence-based strategies, not fake news.”
He added: “Closing ports of entry is a factor. Up to last week 70% of positive cases were passengers coming into the country.” Talking after launching new mobile testing units, Mkhize said the lower numbers were good news, but this might turn out to be “the calm before the devastating storm”. Pulling no punches, he said: “These will flood our hospitals and clinics.”
A researcher said: “The frustrating thing is that we are gradually getting less and less information. And that’s frustrating to us because we can’t help the department of health and the NICD if they are not releasing the data. Dr Richard Lessels from the University of KwaZulu Natal said the drop in the numbers could be a result of some of the earlier measures that were taken.
“The data right now is not telling us anything about whether testing is working or not,” said another researcher.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES | Day six: Keeping you informed with the latest on Covid-19Tributes have been pouring in from around the world for internationally acclaimed scientist, academic and women's rights campaigner Prof Gita Ramjee who died in a Durban hospital of Covid-19 complications on Tuesday.
Read more »
Botswana’s first Covid-19 victim already buried, infection toll now at fourDelayed results led Botswana to believe the three Covid-19 coronavirus cases announced this week were the country’s first, but a life had already been lost to the virus.
Read more »
Glencore puts dividend on ice over Covid-19 concernCompany braces itself for ‘risk of material production disruption’ due to pandemic
Read more »
Police shoot two nurses in Welkom over transport confusion during Covid-19 lockdownThe turmoil erupted when health service providers were renegotiating an arrangement to have the hospital arrange transport for them during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Read more »
Coronavirus: SA to start enrolling patients in landmark Covid-19 trialSouth African researchers are poised to start enrolling patients in an international clinical trial launched by the World Health Organisation which will compare the safety and effectiveness of four different drugs or drug combinations against Covid-19.
Read more »