"COVID-19 is the second worst pandemic in history" - Professor Salim Abdool Karim
Professor Salim Abdool Karim is a South African epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist.
Professor Karim is Director of the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and CAPRISA Professor of Global Health at Columbia University.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Karim was chosen to lead a 45-person Ministerial Advisory Committee.
The committee was intended to guide the South African government's response to the pandemic and included several other medical experts.
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Professor Karim joined Breakfast with Martin Bester on 9 July to discuss the coronavirus statistics in South Africa.
Professor Karim said, ‘We have a better understanding of the virus now than we did in March. One-half of the virus carriers will be asymptomatic and the other will need hospitalisation and that is the problem.’
South Africa’s economic hub, Gauteng, has officially overtaken the Western Cape with the most coronavirus cases in the country.
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The total number of Covid-19 related deaths now stands at 3 602 on 9 July 2020.