South Africa at ‘most devastating’ point as new coronavirus variant spreads

Country enduring its worst point of the pandemic, with variant 501.V2 spreading much faster than earlier variants, President Cyril Ramaphosa says
Hospital beds running out, although Ramaphosa says progress is being made to secure vaccines

Coronavirus Africa

Jevans Nyabiage

Published: 7:01pm, 12 Jan 2021

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The coronavirus situation in South Africa has reached its worst point so far, President Cyril Ramaphosa said after the country recorded more than 190,000 new infections and 4,600 deaths since New Year’s Day.

“The number of new infections, hospital admissions and deaths is higher now than it has ever been since the first case was recorded in our country in March 2020,” Ramaphosa said in a televised address on Monday night in which he said the outbreak was “now at its most devastating”.

The continent’s most affected nation has so far recorded more than 1.2 million Covid-19 cases and more than 33,000 coronavirus-related deaths. Africa has reported about 3 million coronavirus cases and slightly more than 73,000 deaths.

Ramaphosa said that in several parts of the country hospital admissions are much higher than during the first wave of cases last year. More than 15,000 people with Covid-19 were in hospitals, “placing a considerable strain on health facilities, personnel and equipment”, he said.

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He warned that hospital beds were fast running out, since about a third of those admitted to hospital were on oxygen.

He attributed the increase in cases to a variant of the coronavirus known as 501.V2, which was first identified in South Africa in November. The variant spreads much faster than the earlier variants, explaining why more people have become infected in a far shorter space of time.

“Emerging information suggests that this new variant does not cause more severe illness than the original variants,” Ramaphosa said. “But it does put more pressure on the health system because the cases increase so rapidly and the hospitals get full more quickly.”

The country has reintroduced restriction measures on social gatherings, and extended the night curfew for a month to curb the spread of the virus. It has also banned all land border crossings for general travel, though not for goods transport.

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Ramaphosa said South Africa was banking on vaccinations to slow the spread of the virus. He said the country was in the process of procuring vaccines through three channels: the World Health Organization’s global Covax initiative – designed to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines – the African Union bloc’s vaccine initiative, and direct engagements with vaccine manufacturers.

South Africa will receive vaccine doses for about 10 per cent of the population through Covax. And as chair of the African Union, “[South Africa] initiated the establishment of an African vaccine acquisition task team to source vaccine doses for the continent,” Ramaphosa said. “These will be purchased in bulk and African countries will be able to order vaccine doses from this pool.”

It is estimated that Africa as a whole will need 1.5 billion doses to immunise the target of 60 per cent of its population.

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Ramaphosa said that through engagement with vaccine manufacturers, the task force had “done tremendous work to secure vaccine doses for countries on the continent”.

“Given the massive global demand for vaccines and the vastly greater purchasing power of wealthier countries, we are exploring all avenues to get as many vaccine doses as soon as possible,” Ramaphosa said, adding that his country had to date secured 20 million doses, to be delivered in the first half of the year.

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