Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku says he expects the COVID-19 recovery rate in the province to bypass active cases in the next two to three weeks.
The Gauteng Provincial Command Council held a media briefing in Ormode, south of Johannesburg on Friday afternoon.
Gauteng remains the epicentre of the country.
In this video below, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says South Africa has the 8th highest number of COVID-19 infections:
The Gauteng Health Department has welcomed the regulations announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week and hope that this will help stabilise the number of cases.
As it stands, the province is leading the pack and makes up for 36% of the country’s confirmed cases and 46% of the active cases.
Dr Bandile Masuku says, “The problem essentially is that the virus spreads during the movements of people and that is why we have welcomed the president’s announcement in terms of the curfew which is an important aspect of this nature.”
The MEC notes a concern in the number of child fatalities and says medical experts are in the process of analysing the cause behind this.
“Young kids are dying, a matter that is being analysed to find underlying issue.”
Meanwhile in the education sector, Provincial Education MEC is worried about the Grade 12 attendance of which the 30% of the country’s matriculants are not accounted for.
Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says, “Those that have applied to study at home are only 56%. The 30% not available don’t add up. We have a substantial number of matriculants that are not at school and we don’t know where are they and what are they doing.”
On the largely debated issue of the closure of schools, Lesufi believes the schooling environment is safer and more organized.
“We strongly believe that the schooling environment is more organised because learners can social-distance and wear their masks and if their environment at home is not organized we believe we have a situation. As I said, we are relying on experts and if they believe we should shut down schools, we will be in the situation to be influenced by their decision.”
The country is drawing closer to the peak which is expected to begin in August.
The department says its plans to increase healthcare staff is in motion, about 500 more doctors and nurses will be employed towards the peak time to help strengthen the fight against the virus.
