Durban - There’s been a spike in new Covid-19 infections across the country in the last six weeks, but experts say there is no need to panic.
Speaking to eNCA, Professor Shabir Madhi, an expert in vaccinology said an increase in cases had been reported in many provinces, including Limpopo, the Western Cape and to some extent in Gauteng.
But he did not forsee a massive increase in the number of hospitalisations and deaths.
"There is a substantial amount of immunity and protection against severe disease in South Africa, largely because more than 90% of the population has been infected with Covid-19, and many people have been infected two or three more times without even knowing it. So we are in a good space when it come to protection, at least against severe infection," Madhi said.
According to the weekly updates provided by the Department of Health, on October 12, SA had 1 723 new Covid infections with:
- 1590 new infections reported on October 5
- 1 532 new infections reported on September 29
- 1 558 new infections reported on September 21
- 1 424 new infections reported on September 14
- 1 262 new infections reported on September 7
Meanwhile, the SA Medical Research Council has noted a sharp increase in SARS-COV-2 RNA in wastewater in Cape Town and parts of the Western Cape.
In a statement, the SAMRC said these concentrations were found in several wastewater treatment plants in the city of Cape Town, as well as in the Western Cape towns of De Doorns, Rawsonville and Worcester
For the past two years the SAMRC has been operating a surveillance programme for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in more than 80 wastewater treatment plants across 6 provinces in South Africa. This has been undertaken to help track the pandemic in our country.
Over the past week the SAMRC Wastewater Surveillance team has measured concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Cape Town and parts of the Western Cape, that have not been observed for many months.
President and CEO of the SAMRC, Professor Glenda Gray, said the increase in SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in the wastewater programme coincides with an increase in the proportion of positive Covid-19 tests recently reported by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
Member of the SAMRC Wastewater Surveillance team, Professor Angela Mathee, said that at this stage similar increases in SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in wastewater have not been observed in Gauteng, northern KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Free State, in the SAMRC programme.
"We will be paying close attention to next week’s results ascertain further changes, should they occur. Over the next few weeks, it may be prudent for those at risk to revert to basic protective measures, such as avoiding, or wearing masks in, crowded indoor spaces or when caring for people who are ill, being fastidious about hand hygiene and keeping up to date with Covid-19 vaccinations or booster shots," Matthee said.
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