South Africans who have had enough of the mask-wearing, handwashing, and social distancing regime have been warned that the deadly coronavirus that has killed nearly 60 000 is “not tired” and it is spreading.
“We may be tired of this persistent enemy, but it is not yet tired of us,” warns President Cyril Ramaphosa in his weekly letter.
“We are now in the midst of a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Alert level three restrictions that include a curfew and limited gatherings were imposed last Wednesday after a significant surge of Covid-19 cases.
The threat to health and lives is evident as people become ill and some die.
“So we must do what we can, as individuals, as families and communities, as unions and employers, and as government, to limit the toll,” said Ramaphosa.
When the virus surges to this extent, the economy also faces challenges.
Workers have to isolate or quarantine, people stop going out for recreation or shopping, tourism comes to a standstill, and workplaces have to spend more money to prevent infections.
“It is incorrect to speak about a trade-off between lives and livelihoods. Rather, we need to invest our time, effort, and resources to control the pandemic to see a payoff, in terms of both falling case numbers, reduced deaths, and economic recovery,” said Ramaphosa.
The climb in new cases has been extraordinarily rapid and steep over the past few weeks.
The number of daily new cases jumped from below 800 in early April to more than 13 000 in the past week – a 15-fold increase.
“By now, we all know what we have to do to bring the rate of infection down, and we must act with great discipline to protect our people and our livelihoods,” said Ramaphosa.
“Once again, we have to avoid social gatherings of all kinds, whether for family, friends, business, or recreation.
“We must work from home if we can. We must wear masks when other people are around and stay one and half metres from other people whenever possible.”
South Africa is rolling out its phase two vaccination programme. About half a million teachers and other education staff will be vaccinated in the next two weeks.
“Although we find ourselves in the middle of winter, we need to ensure good ventilation when indoors or in public transport, for instance by opening windows,” said the president.
“Our people know that we can control contagions, but it requires all of us to act together over time.”
