Prominent Wits professor slams ‘nonsensical’ lockdown regulations
Professor Emeritus Guy Richards of Wits University has slammed some of the lockdown regulations, describing them as “nonsensical”.
On Monday, the Gauteng GP Collaboration hosted a panel on the Covid-19 pandemic with the aim of empowering doctors to flatten the curve and ensure real recovery.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and Chief Covid-19 adviser Professor Samil Abdool Karim were both on the panel.
Richards was also among the panellists.
“Many lockdown rules were in fact nonsensical, specifically we were looking at superspreading events like taxi, funerals, religions gatherings and then of course not allowing people to go to parks where transmission is almost certain not to occur because of the open air."
Richards also took a swipe at the ban on the sale of cigarettes.
The sale of tobacco products was only recently allowed since the ban in March.
“And then of course smoking has no impact on Covid-19 as well,” Richards said.
“Not only that, I’m very worried about the fact that I read in the paper, whether it’s true or not I don’t know, that the WHO 43 recommended intermittent lockdowns and that would be disastrous for the lockdown.”
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The country’s Covid-19 infections and facilities have started to stabilise Richards said it’s no thanks to some of these regulations.
“The modelling we know has been wrong and the reason why it was wrong, as the minister said, is because we had no statistics to guide us.
“Lockdown will probably not, in my view, decrease the infection numbers because they will occur at a later time, at an endemic rate which will eventually lead to the same numbers that we actually have.”
The latest stats from the Department of Health show an increase of 1677 Covid-19 cases, bringing the cumulative total to 611 450. The death toll now sits at 13 159.
