Today, two years ago, it was confirmed that South Africa had its first Covid case: a 38-year-old man from KwaZulu-Natal, who traveled to Italy with his wife, had contracted the virus. He was part of a group of 10 people who had arrived in the country a few days earlier. So much has happened in two years. We’ve been through a lot of lockdowns, different variants of Covid and the world as we know it has changed. We had to change. Those lucky enough to have their jobs work from home, training was provided on a rotational basis, our…
Today, two years ago, it was confirmed that South Africa had its first Covid case: a 38-year-old man from KwaZulu-Natal, who traveled to Italy with his wife, had contracted the virus.
He was part of a group of 10 people who had arrived in the country a few days earlier. So much has happened in two years. We’ve been through a lot of lockdowns, different variants of Covid and the world as we know it has changed. We had to change.
Those lucky enough to keep their jobs at home received rotational training, our health care system and employees were tested to the limit, and we were told when and where to go into the “real world.”
Fast forward two years and where are we now? We’ve had just under 3.7 million Covid cases. Just under 100,000 people have lost their lives due to Covid, and 3,554,282 people have reportedly recovered.
Although we are currently experiencing a milder form of Covid, there are still an estimated 25,758 active cases and we have not seen an expected decrease in infections. We have administered over 31 million doses, which equates to just over 19 million adults.
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About 48% of the adult population has received at least one shot. If we haven’t had Covid, we certainly know a family member or friend who is infected.
Yet there is still reluctance to get the jab. Minister of Health Dr. Joe Phaahla yesterday rightly expressed his concern that the 70% target for population immunity had still not been reached, and that the 18-to-34 age group – with a vaccination rate of only 34% – was still far behind.
In short, we are simply not getting vaccinated soon enough.
His words “we have a few months to claim our place among the nations of the world. After this year it will be difficult to cope with the rest of the world without vaccination” should be read as a warning.