Fourth wave of Covid infections ‘fast approaching’, expert warns
Just as the country continues to grapple with the current wave of Covid-19 infections, experts now believe the fourth wave may come earlier than anticipated.
This according to Professor Bruce Mellado, a member of the Covid-19 Advisory Committee.
Mellado made the remarks at the SABC’s headquarters in Auckland Park on Thursday at a pop-up vaccination site.
He told the public broadcaster there are some concerns about the patterns shown by the third wave that lead scientists to believe the worst is yet to come.
“The situation in Gauteng is that the number of cases and other indicators is that they are steadily going down, we are leaving or have left the high risk area,” said Mellado.
“However the problem we have is that this third wave is somewhat different from the first and the second in that different provinces haven’t started the wave or peaked at different times.
“Currently we have neighbouring provinces such as Free State and KZN where we don’t have evidence that the peak has been reached, that is a major source of concern,” he added.
The Delta variant has wreaked havoc on the country, with more a dramatic spike in injections and hospital admissions.
More than 2.7 million cumulative cases have been recorded since the start of the pandemic over a year ago and more than 80 000 fatalities.
“What we can say at the moment is that because the Delta variant was so contagious and it was passed on to so many peopled the third wave was so large, it is likely the fourth wave will be bigger.”
But Mellado believes the country’s vaccination drive could be its saving grace.
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