Public health specialists have warned that as South Africans develop what they call epidemic fatigue, they are increasing the risk of COVID-19 infections.
Doctor Kerrin Begg, a Public Health Specialist at the University of Cape Town, says people who have been affected by COVID-19 seem to be abiding by the regulations, however, most people are going about their lives as normal.
“Certainly one of the challenges for us is what we can refer to as quarantine fatigue and epidemic fatigue that people are tired of staying home. The fear factor kept people home in the early days. The risks are so much higher because they are starting to aggregate and congregate and socialise again and that’s probably the worst thing we can do right now. We give the virus legs, the virus can’t move without us as human beings moving and connecting with other people.”
Begg’s comments come as the country recorded the highest number of COVID-19 infections in 24 hours. Seven-thousand-210 new cases were recorded and the number of deaths has also increased by 73 bringing the total death toll 2 413.
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South Africa continues to be the epicentre of the virus in Africa, with 131 800 confirmed cases so far.
The map below gives a break down of the provincial stats:
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On a positive note, there has been 67 094 recoveries, translating to a 50.9% recovery rate.
South Africa currently has 62 293 active cases.
A total of 1 529 009 tests were conducted, of 35 905 were done in the last 24 hours.
