Mkhize: The country will be split into 3 Covid areas, with ‘out of control’ being one

The health minister and his advisers briefed the country on what comes next for the health sector and the country in level 3 of lockdown.

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Mkhize is also a veteran of South Africa's fight against AIDS. AFP/File/GUILLEM SARTORIO

Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize was on Friday joined by members of the Ministerial Advisory Committee, senior officials from the Department of Health and the leadership of health entities including SAHPRA, NHLS and NICD in a virtual press briefing on Covid-19 health interventions ahead of the country’s move to alert level three.

The minister explained that South Africa had to open up the country’s economy in a way that allows people to sustain their livelihoods while learning to live with the virus in their midst, since poverty is just as, or more, dangerous as the virus itself.

South Africa’s approach would therefore be different than China’s, which had managed to contain the virus and bring down the infection rate. He conceded that this was no longer possible in South Africa and the country would just need to learn to live with the virus and people would need to take personal care to avoid being infected through using sanitisation, social distance and other tools.

“We do understand that this debate has been very strong in the country but we can’t be in a position of keeping the lockdown as it was,” said the minister.

He called out sectors calling for their own sectors to be opened but expecting others to be closed.

“We have taken a differentiated approach, with every part of the country going into level 3.”

After that the country would be divided into three areas: low transmission, high transmission (hotspots) and areas that were getting “completely out of control”.

The approach would be different in each area, which the briefing then went into further.