Acting President David Mabuza chairs the National Command Council meeting on Tuesday, representing President Cyril Ramaphosa who’s in self-isolation due to COVID-19.
As the acting head of state, Mabuza has a tough responsibility of steering the ship on whether to tighten lockdown regulations due to soaring numbers of people testing positive.
In the last 24 hours, almost 14 000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, with eleven people having succumbed to the deadly virus.
Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla is scheduled to brief the NCCC on the high numbers as the country had entered into a fourth wave dominated by the new Omicron variant.
Uncertainty continues to be the order of the day across the country. This, as the number of new COVID-19 infections, keeps skyrocketing.
Acting President has a tough time ahead, as many people prepare to go away for the December holidays.
It remains to be seen whether the country will be placed under strict lockdown regulations or not.
‘Get vaccinated’
Meanwhile, North West University Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation Professor Jeffery Mphahlele has urged people to get vaccinated, as cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus continue rising.
Vaccines are the best way to combat the coronavirus. However, South Africa is still struggling with vaccine hesitancy. Prof Mphahlele says the vaccines are the way to go.
“Even with the people that are being re-infected now with omicron, because they received 2 full doses of Pfizer or 1 dose of J&J, most of them will suffer mild disease. The issue of boosters is just to ensure that the protection level is high enough, that you are able to fight against this variant. The purpose of vaccination is to prevent severe disease and also to prevent mortality.”
