To understand the magnitude of the disaster, it is important to know that some 24 000 members of the workforce infected by the new coronavirus since the start of the pandemic in march represent about 5 % of the total number of cases of Covid-19 in South Africa. This is the south african minister of Health in person, Zweli Mkwize, which was announced at a press conference, adding that 181 of them had lost their lives. Moreover, since the beginning of the pandemic, the unions have warned about the safety of the staff in the hospitals, south africans, caring for the sick, the Covid, as well as on the number and quality of protective equipment.
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An observation to the picture of the general health situation of the country
With 521 318 confirmed cases, including more than 8, 000 deaths, South Africa is the most affected country of the african continent. Alone, it has recorded more than half of the cases of novel coronavirus in Africa. It is also the fifth country in the world most affected by the pandemic in terms of confirmed cases, but the official number of deaths is significantly under-estimated, have warned of the experts. Between 40 000 and 50 000 people could die of the Covid-19 by the end of the year in the country, according to the official screenings. "We're not finished yet" with the pandemic, has recognized Zweli Mkwize, stating, however, "up to now we were well beaten" against it. "We have not reached the stage where there is no place for the sick (the Covid) in the hospitals," he said. He has indicated that his country might " have reached the peak (of the pandemic) by the end of August ", with, however, guard against the risk of a second wave in the case of abandonment too fast of the measures taken to contain the expansion of the virus. South Africa has imposed at the end of march one of the confinements the most stringent in the world, before you soften it. Before the explosion of the contamination, the schools come again to be closed for a month and a night-time curfew has been reinstated.
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