Health experts warn that society is still far from understanding the true extent of COVID-19 infections in South Africa.
They say the number of new infections, released daily, does not show the extent of the spread of the virus in communities.
South Africa is seeing an increase in the number of new infections.
The total of infections now stands at 4 361 with 86 deaths.
In the video below, COVID-19 cases in South Africa rise to 4 361:
Experts say this is a result of aggressive screening and testing in communities.
Professor Bulie Magula, the Head of Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, says one infected person infects up to three people, who in turn infect others. Magula says it takes a few days for symptoms to show.
Immunization is a shared responsibility.
If only some people are vaccinated, diseases can still spread, especially to those at highest risk:
✅Infants who are too young to receive vaccines
✅Older adults at risk of serious diseases
✅People with low immunity#VaccinesWork pic.twitter.com/6AbnxvJ9I5
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) April 24, 2020
“People need to step forward to get tested because the numbers that we are now worried about that they are going up , if people are not stepping forward we will find ourselves in a situation where transmission has gone unchecked.
“And we are only seeing ourselves where people are coming into hospitals sick and dying when we could actually could have stepped in early.”
Meanwhile Western Cape Health MEC, Nomafrench Mbombo, said last Saturday that the province has not ruled out the possibility of cremating people who have died due to COVID-19, should the need arise.
Mbombo said that this is due to the unique nature of the virus.
She said the contagious nature of COVID-19 could see to the change of funeral traditions.
“Of course although in South Africa we don’t have as much compared at this stage to international where people are dying in numbers like in the US, but there might be a time, as I said we don’t know how the disease will evolve.
“There might be a time where either cremation or mass burial which we have seen in New York City, but we are not there at that level yet.”
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