Be prepared for a spike in infections

Writer: De Waal Steyn.

Don’t be alarmed. Be Prepared.” Those were the words of President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday as the country, and especially the Western Cape, braced itself for the predicted wave of new Coronavirus infections.

“More than half of all cases since the start of the outbreak were recorded in the last two weeks. During this week, we can expect the total number of cases to pass the 50 000 mark. Sadly, we are also likely to record the 1 000th death from this devastating disease,” Ramaphosa said in his weekly letter to the nation.

“While these numbers are broadly in line with what the various models had projected, there is a big difference between looking at a graph on a piece of paper and seeing real people becoming infected, some getting ill and some dying.

“We can draw some comfort from the knowledge that the nationwide lockdown, in achieving the objective we had of delaying the spread of the virus, gave us time to prepare our health facilities and interventions for the expected spike in infections,” he said.

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