Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkize has encouraged all people to make it their culture to maintain social distancing and hand hygiene even after the national lockdown period.
Mkhize says health authorities are now going to do mass-testing for the coronavirus (COVID-19) to ensure that as many South Africans as possible know their status.
Mkhize says some people may not present symptoms of the COVID-19, therefore people should get used to social distancing.
“We need to get used to the fact that from now on there is a new culture, no hugs, no kissing, no shaking of hands, keep at a distance, keep at least one meter apart and if somebody’s coughing look away or use your elbow if you are coughing. But in addition, we want that distancing. And this must be now part of our new culture of how we want to keep that curve flat. And we think that the curve can be kept flat if people can keep on to this issue. It’s already showing that is beginning to work and so we want to encourage that.”
In the video below, health and hygiene awareness to reduce risk of COVID-19:
In
Lack of protective equipment
Mkhize has warned health care workers against acting unethically by stopping work because they are dissatisfied with what they say is a lack of personal protective equipment like gloves and masks.
Mkhize says health care workers should not give in to fear, because they have been trained on how to deal with infectious diseases.
“We are trained, just like the army. The army can’t say the other fellows are shooting. You are trained on how to face the bullet and you know how to deal with it. In this case, these are professionals, they are trained to defeat infections, they are trained to defeat COVID-19. They are not fearful. So, what we need is to make sure that when there’s anxiety it means there is unequal training that we must invest in. And therefore, we will say they must raise the issue so that we can go and check what is the problem.”
In the video below, hospital staff strike over lack of protective gear:
Mkize encourages self-made masks
Mkhize has also encouraged people to make their own masks to stop the spread of the coronavirus. He says people should make three-layer masks to prevent the virus from spreading to other people.
“But we are basing it now on clear scientific evidence that we have which is to say everyone should now be encouraged to wear masks and we can use the cloth mask as well they are just as effective. You must just make sure that they’ve got the kind of layers that we spoke about. N95 surgical masks will be reserved for the specialists where there are people who are working in conditions where people are actually dealing with a highly infective situation.”
In the video below, Mkize urges citizen to wear face masks:
South Africa has recorded 2 003 and 24 deaths. Mkhize says surgical masks and N95 masks should be reserved for health workers.
Confirmed coronavirus cases in South Africa:
