South African media
Recently, with the epidemic in South Africa, which was basically under control, more and more South Africans no longer abide by the epidemic prevention regulations, resulting in a sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 infections in South Africa, from about 1,000 new cases per day in mid-November to about 4,000 cases per day recently. As the New Year approaches, local media say that indulgence may be the culprit of a second outbreak in South Africa.
From 27 November to 4 December, a carnival involving thousands of students in the town of Barito, near Durban, South Africa, infected more than 100 people with the novel coronavirus, which South African media called “super spread”. Barrito’s “super-communication” is not an isolated incident. Recently, there have been many “super-communication” incidents in South Africa.
On December 6, during an inspection in Cape Town, South African Health Minister Mukez found that many restaurants and nightclubs in the city violated epidemic prevention regulations, the number of customers indoors far exceeded the prescribed number, and many people did not wear masks.
The country’s virus experts and senior government officials have expressed concern about this. Professor Salim Abdool Karim, a well-known epidemic and infectious disease expert in South Africa, said that the future Christmas and New Year holidays will increase mass gathering activities in South Africa, and group non-compliance with epidemic prevention regulations will put South Africa at risk of a second outbreak.
Professor Karim called for criminal prosecution against all organizers of the COVID-19 epidemic prevention measures. Then some officials of local law enforcement agencies in South Africa responded that “legislation gaps” made it difficult to implement the relevant regulations.
South African President Ramaphosa also said that South Africa’s GDP rebounded by 13.5% in the third quarter of 2020, and South Africa’s economy will recover strongly.
But the spread of the country’s second outbreak will destroy everything, so all South Africans are called upon to wear masks, maintain a safe distance from others, avoid staying in crowded or poorly ventilated places, and wash their hands regularly.
Ramaphosa stressed that these simple measures are not only necessary to protect themselves and others, but also necessary means to support the sustained recovery of South Africa’s economy.
