South Africa’s Covid-19 cases hit one million mark as new wave soars

South Africa has become the first country in Africa to record one million Covid-19 cases which has forced President Cyril Ramaphosa to call an emergency meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council on Sunday, December 27, reports say.

The country’s new variant of the coronavirus, 501.V2, is said to be more contagious and has quickly become dominant in many areas of the resurgence, according to experts.

The country also announced a cumulative total of 1,004,431 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday evening with 26,735 deaths recorded in the country that has 60 million people.

With the country’s hospitals reaching maximum capacity and no sign of the new surge reaching a peak, Ramaphosa is expected to announce a return to restrictive measures designed to slow the spread of the disease.

A medical expert in the country, Dr. Richard Lessells, an infectious disease specialist, while speaking with Associated Press, said:

“We are not helpless in the face of this variant. We can change our behavior to give the virus less opportunities to spread,” adding that it was most important to avoid contact with others in indoor and enclosed spaces.

Read also: UK discovers two COVID-19 strains linked to South Africa

Continuing, Lessells said:

“One million cases is a serious milestone, but the true number of cases and deaths is almost certainly much higher.

“We have seen the new variant spread rapidly. As people return from holidays at coastal areas, we can expect them to bring the variant with them. We can also expect travelers to take the variant with them across the borders to other African countries.”

South Africa’s seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has nearly doubled over the past two weeks from 10.24 new cases per 100,000 people on December 12 to 19.86 new cases per 100,000 people on December 26.

The number of deaths has also nearly doubled with the seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in South Africa which has risen over the past two weeks from 0.25 deaths per 100,000 people on December 12 to 0.48 deaths per 100,000 people on December 26.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now