Ban on interprovincial travel ‘unlikely to slow down Covid-19’

President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to address the nation on Monday evening on measures the government will implement as part of efforts to curb the second wave of infections.

Amid speculation that government could limit or ban travel between provinces, Van den Heever says travelling does not pose a super-spreader risk.

“All communities already have people who are positive in them so barring travel is not going to make much of a difference. But what does matter is what happens in the area when you  get to it and how you socialise.

“It is really about individual conduct and spacing the venues, but we need to focus on high-risk areas, targeting high-risk areas with poor ventilation spaces is the key measure to prevent a second wave.”

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He says preventing super-spreader events, such as the recent Rage events in KwaZulu-Natal, is key to fighting a second wave of infections.

“The surge we are seeing now is as a result of super-spreader events, so unless if we control those places we are going to have a problem. Not all gatherings are problematic, only indoor gatherings with less ventilation is a problem- being outside and adhering to all regulations is what can work.”

Van den Heever says the severity of the second wave will depend on how we manage those super-spreader events.

“What we saw in the first surge is that we went into peak in all the metropolitans and then it went into decline, people were a lot more cautious in July than they are in November because they thought the pandemic is gone.

“We have learnt what to do, but the problem is that people thought the virus is gone and they were back to normal, particularly young people who now began to gather. Europe experienced exactly the same thing, college students gathering and continuing to spread the virus.”