Prof Karim warns SA ‘is heading to quite severe Covid-19 situation’
Infectious diseases expert and chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 Professor Salim Abdool Karim says South Africa's second wave of Covid-19 infections came sooner than expected.
Karim says experts had only anticipated the second wave at the end of January and in February when holidaymakers returned home.
On Wednesday, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize declared that the country had entered into a second wave of the pandemic.
Four provinces have been identified as the largest contributors to the surge, the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
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Delivering the keynote address during a virtual symposium hosted by the University of KZN, Karim said events like the matric Rage festival in Ballito helped speed up the arrival of the second wave.
He said things are likely to get worse as people move to the coast for the holidays.
"My big concern wasn't the virus spreading in these provinces. All these people are going to move now and go to the coast and go to the mountains and go on vacation.
"We're heading for quite a severe situation," Karim warned.
