Photo: GCIS
Photo: GCIS
As South Africa stands on the verge of new lockdown changes, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has provided us with plenty of reasons to be optimistic going forward – even if he did keep his cards close to his chest.
Mkhize gave SABC a full debrief after South Africa recorded its lowest amount of new COVID-19 infections since June, with just over 3 700 positive tests logged in the past 24 hours. Although testing has been scaled back, the minister has explained why this is one of many encouraging aspects reported so far in August:
So, with these developments in mind, will the government throw caution to the wind with our lockdown changes? Although we can expect some restrictions to be lifted, Zweli Mkhize doesn’t want ‘rash decisions’:
“While we are quite optimistic about these trends, we must get these numbers down past one thousand new cases per day – that’d be fantastic. We also do not want to cause a resurgence of the virus, as it could be worse than what we’ve already experienced. Therefore, we cannot just open up as if everything is normal.”
Zweli Mkhize
When probed about what lockdown changes South Africans could expect to experience by the end of this week, the head of our health department explained that things will only progress if there is a ‘sound scientific basis’ to do so. However, he left us all on a cliffhanger, claiming that ‘good news’ was on its way…
“We are preparing submissions and need to make recommendations to ease certain restrictions. A lot of issues are being discussed and the president is guiding on us on what will happen next. We want to have a thorough scientific basis for our next steps, but we are all responsible for our own destiny.”
“We must all wear our masks, wash our hands, and sanitise. If we continue doing this, I’m sure we can all expect some good news soon. However, we recommend that the State of Disaster remains; it can’t end yet.”
Zweli Mkhize