Visible policing needed to enforce lockdown compliance, warns Prof Glenda Gray
Updated | By Anastasi Mokgobu
President of the Medical Research Council Professor Glenda Gray says a second wave of Covid-19 infections remains a possibility should South Africans continue ignoring the lockdown regulations.
There are mounting fears of a second wave of the virus, which has already killed almost nineteen thousand people in South Africa.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize also warned of a marked increase in new Covid-19 infections as a result of declining adherence to measures such as wearing a mask, social distancing and hand washing.
Gray says a second wave remains very likely and therefor the focus should be on prevention and mitigation.
"South Africa was not able to control the virus and eliminate transmission in the first wave. We still have a circulating virus and it will continue to transmit and infect more people if the citizens don't adhere to non-pharmaceutical interventions."
She says the onus is on individuals to help slow down transmission and prevent a resurgence.
"A second wave depends on the actions and behaviour of the citizens, implementing the wearing of a mask and adhering to social distancing regulations and washing hands. We can minimize the risk of onward progression, we just need to protect ourselves and all the people around us.”
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She believes visible policing is also necessary to help enforce the regulations.
"Implementing regulations have to become an automatic behaviour for all of us and visible policing is also necessary it will remind people to always adhere and not let their guard down.
“We need restaurant, bar and club owners to ensure that all the people who visit their establishments are always ahering to regulations in place.”
Cape Town and the University of Fort Hare in Eastern Cape have already experienced so-called super-spreader events linked to local bars.
Police Minister Bheki Cele also shut down a club in Sandton over the weekend for breaking lockdown regulations.
"We can learn from other countries that the second wave really depends on behaviour but people get tired of being in lockdown then go out to clubs which are super-spreading events. Staying in lockdown is fatiguing, but we have to do it to protect everyone.
"We need a multi-pronged approach to encourage citizens to implement non-pharmaceutical interventions because we are not going to get a vaccine until at least late next year.”
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