SAMA advises against hard lockdown as country awaits Ramaphosa address
Some medical experts remain opposed to a hard lockdown as an effective tool to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) believes government should rather impose stricter restrictions on gatherings.
This comes as the country awaits President Cyril Ramaphosa’s latest address on the Covid-19 developments on Monday evening.
SAMA chairperson Dr Angelique Coetzee says moving the country to level 5 of the lockdown would be closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
“It’s too late to try and curb the virus, the virus is out there. It’s a very contagious virus and very transmissible so we’re going to have difficulties in trying to force this virus back into a box, you’re not going to get that,” says Coetzee.
“What we need to do is you need to look at social gatherings, you need to look at stricter adherence to the current lockdown regulations by both the public and the law enforcement.”
Coetzee says the difficulty in ensuring adherence to regulations is among the biggest issues faced by the country.
“If you go into a higher lockdown you will need more enforcement to try and enforce the current regulations and as it is that we don’t even have law enforcement to look after the crime, let alone people not adhering to regulations.”
The address comes amid a spike in Covid-19 cases across most provinces as the country battles to get the second wave of infections under control.
She predicts the number of infections will spike in Gauteng and Limpopo.
“One of the reasons is that if you look at inter alia the border posts and the longs rows and queues standing there, those are hotspots. That’s not well thought through to let those people come into the country coming back from their annual leave. That also needs to be addressed,” she adds.
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