Chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal Doctors Healthcare Coalition, Professor Morgan Chetty, has warned people against using any home cures to treat or avoid getting COVID-19.
This after a family from Estcourt in KwaZulu-Natal, has been rushed to hospital after drinking de-worming medication used for cattle, hoping it would prevent them from contracting the coronavirus.
It is believed that one of their employees also drank the toxic liquid.
Six people are in critical condition in hospital.
Chetty says there is currently no cure for COVID-19.
“We’re sitting in an environment of total uncertainty. There’s a lot of fear, there’s a lot of anxiety and there’s a lot of fake news that is circulating. One thing, to make clear, the entire world [including] the World Health Organisation (WHO) have made it very clear, there is no medication to date that has been available to treat COVID-19. There’s no medication at all. So, science is in development but in this period definitely there is not a single medicine to treat COVID-19,” explains Chetty.
First COVID-19 vaccine trial in SA begins
The first clinical trial in the country and on the continent for a COVID-19 vaccine was announced on Tuesday at a virtual press conference hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand.
Two-thousand people will form part of the country’s trials. The first group consists of 50 HIV negative people who will be vaccinated this week.
Later this month, another 1 900 will be added who will get a different and stronger dosage of the vaccine.
The test groups will be people aged between 18 and 65-years-old.
Over 100 000 South Africans have tested positive for COVID-19 and over 1 900 have died since March when the President declared a state of disaster and national lockdown.
By 17 June 2020, South Africa contributed to 30% of all diagnosed cases and 23% of all coronavirus related deaths on the African continent.
These statistics emphasise the urgent need for prevention of COVID-19 on the continent.
In the video below, watch the launch of the vaccine trial:
