Covid-19: Some good news

A tired-looking President Cyril Ramaphosa had some good news for South Africa in his latest address on the Covid-19 crisis on Monday night.

Not only had the country received its first million consignment of the Covishield vaccine which arrived from India earlier in the day, but the infection rate had also dropped to a level where some lockdown restrictions could be lifted.

Though SA is still under “adjusted Level 3” lockdown, the beaches, dams, rivers, parks and public swimming pools can now be reopened.

Also: “The sale of alcohol by licensed premises for off-site consumption will be permitted from Mondays to Thursdays, from 10am to 6pm.”

The curfew can also now be relaxed, and will be in place from 11pm to 4am, with businesses able to close at 10pm, instead of 8pm.

Falling infection rate

All of these restrictions were possible because of a drastic fall-off in the infection rate.

“In the past seven days, the daily average of new infections was around 5 500, compared to just over 10 000 infections in the previous seven days.”

Though SA is making progress when it comes to tackling Covid-19, Ramaphosa cautioned against not taking efforts to restrict the spread of the virus (like wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing) seriously or there could be a third wave infection.

“It is up to us not to let down our guard, and to prevent a third wave of infections. It is up to us to protect ourselves, our families and our communities.”

Deadly race

The president did not explicitly say it, but the country is now in a race between an emerging possible third wave and the rapid rollout of the vaccine.

Ramaphosa said the country has made progress in sourcing vaccines, but was not clear about how many doses have been acquired or precise dates regarding the distribution of the vaccines.

For example, he said 1.5 million doses were secured from the Serum Institute of India but it is unclear if this part of the 12 million doses from the global Covax facility.

He also mentioned getting nine million vaccine doses from Johnson & Johnson, 20 million from Pfizer and seven million bought by MTN on behalf of the country.

If all these doses are added up, SA will easily reach 40 million, the figure widely regarded where the country will reach so-called “herd immunity”.

Ramaphosa, however, did not speak like the country had acquired enough vaccines.

“We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to make sure that enough vaccine doses are secured to reach population immunity in our country,” he said.

Read: J&J single-dose vaccine provides strong shield against Covid

You don’t have to take it

He was also unclear on the roll-out of the vaccines, only saying that it will happen in three phases, to which he gave no timeframe.

He did reiterate that healthcare workers will be first in line after the vaccines have undergone evaluation.

“Now that the vaccines have arrived they will be tested at the National Control Laboratory to confirm that their integrity has been maintained during transportation. After testing, they will be distributed across the country to thousands of our healthcare workers who every day put their own lives at risk to save others.”

Though Ramaphosa did not give away too many details on the distribution of vaccines, he made it clear that people have the right to refuse to take it.

“Nobody will be forced to take this vaccine. Nobody will be forbidden from travelling, from enrolling at school, or from taking part in any public activity if they have not been vaccinated.”