WHO team to assist South Africa in reinforcing Covid-19 response

A World Health Organisation (WHO) surge group will help South Africa in bolstering its nationwide Covid-19 response, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has mentioned.

The group contains 43 members and 16 arrived within the nation on Friday.

Over the final three weeks, the variety of new confirmed instances in South Africa has dropped from a peak of over 12,000 a day to a mean over the previous week of round 5,000 a day. The restoration fee has elevated from 48 per cent to 80 per cent.

“We have received queries on why there would be a need for the (WHO) surge team if we are past the surge,” Mkhize mentioned.

“I would like to emphasise for our people that we are not past anything: we are still the country with the fifth highest positive cases in the world,” the minister mentioned.

South Africa, at current, has the world’s fifth largest virus caseload with over 5,79,000 confirmed instances and has reported greater than 11,000 deaths, in accordance with the tally by the Johns Hopkins University.

Mkhize mentioned aside from the affect on the well being system that the coronavirus has had, “we are still faced with the devastation it has caused in our social lives, our well-being, the economy and the environment”.

“With the threat of resurgence remaining very real, we would not want to repeat recent history witnessed in some countries and allow a second surge to wreak even further destruction,” he mentioned.

The WHO group might be wanting on the South African state of affairs “with fresh eyes and may be able to identify blind spots or offer a perspective we might not have considered”, the well being minister mentioned.

Citing the WHO’s help to the nation with earlier outbreaks of cholera and listeriosis, Mkhize mentioned South Africa has a proud report of partnership with the organisation.

The WHO had supplied invaluable steerage in the course of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, which coincided with the worldwide H1N1 outbreak and threatened to scupper the soccer spectacle that was hosted for the primary time on the African continent in 2010, he mentioned.

“Whilst the WHO name was well known and trusted, it was usually not part of everyday civilian conversation – now (because of the Covid-19 pandemic) the WHO is part of our work language, our dinner conversations, our social media banter, and a lot of arguments,” Mkhize mentioned.

“What I am most proud of is that the WHO has remained committed to all nations despite some being critical and even withdrawing sorely needed funding and resources,” the minister mentioned. On Saturday, President Cyril Ramaphosa introduced that the National State of Disaster, which was declared within the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been prolonged until September 15 in South Africa.

The authorities, nevertheless, has lowered the nationwide lockdown to Level-2 of its five-level strategic strategy to take care of the pandemic to permit financial exercise to renew within the nation.