Sharp decline in new Covid cases causes hope

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - There has been a 43% decline in new Covid-19 cases over the past seven days compared with the previous week. Hospitalisations are also down.

Zee Brickles, district director of Health, said they are optimistic about the decline in numbers, but remain vigilant in order to contain any cluster outbreaks through responding as early as possible.

The district recorded 607 new cases in the week up till 26 January compared with 1 165 new cases in the previous week.

A total of 55 Covid-19 deaths was recorded in the past week, compared with 63 in the previous week and 71 in the week before that.

The reproductive number (this indicates the number of new cases arising from each infectious case) for new infections in the province is now below 1.

"We have to maintain our momentum of surveillance and monitoring as a department but also rely on the community to keep up with the protective behaviours, namely wearing a mask at all times in public, avoiding crowded spaces, avoiding spaces with poor ventilation and maintaining social distancing.

"This is what has brought about the gains which we now see," said Brickles.

'Less transmission equals less mutation'

The chief scientist of the World Health Organisation, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, has stressed the importance of social distancing and hygiene protocols to help limit the mutation of the virus.

"The more we give it a chance to spread and to multiply within humans, the more chances it is going to have to keep changing itself," she warned.

This is important in the light of the NICD's latest information about possible reduced efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines against the new strains (in the UK, South Africa and Brazil), and the probability of re-infection by variants.