President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address South Africans on Sunday, June 27, at 20:00. This comes after his meeting with the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC).
A special National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) convened on Saturday, June 26, to receive a report from scientists on the prevalence of the Delta variant in South Africa.
The Delta variant, which was first identified in India, was now contributing to high Covid-19 infections in the country.
Acting Minister of Health, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane on Saturday, briefed the media about the variant.
In the last 24 hours there are 18762 new cases, which represents a 25.5% positivity testing rate. Of these Gauteng accounts for 11 777 new cases.Nationally the numbers have surpassed the first wave peak and we are likely to surpass the second wave peak #COVID19 #ThirdWave pic.twitter.com/YZESnQD8Zc
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) June 26, 2021
“Today, we announce that our scientists have discovered that we have a new variant which is prevalent in our country. This new variant is called Delta variant and has been existing in various countries,” said Kubayi-Ngubane.
Previously we had communicated that the #ThirdWave peak is unlikely to surpass the 2ndwave peak.
Unfortunately, this is no longer the case, our scientists, have discovered that we have a new variant that is prevalent in our country. This new variant is called that Delta #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/Sni3agbUcM— Department of Health (@HealthZA) June 26, 2021
South Africa was currently battling with the third wave of the coronavirus, with over 18 000 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours. Gauteng remained the epicentre of the virus, as it reported close to 12 000 of the new cases.
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“We are in the third wave and we continue to see infections rapidly rising, with Gauteng being the epicentre of these new infections. In the last 24 hours, there are 18 762 new cases, which represent a 25% of positivity testing rate of which Gauteng accounts for 11 777 new cases,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.
The number of infections continue to rise and Gauteng continues to the epicentre of new infections. The trends are clearly showing that other provinces are going to experience the trend we are seeing in Gauteng, notably in the western and the Eastern Cape #COVID19 #ThirdWave pic.twitter.com/V0PVOgGtEy
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) June 26, 2021
Kubayi-Ngubane said trends clearly showed that other provinces would soon a surge in the numbers of Covid-19 infections, as currently experienced by Gauteng.
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“We remain concerned about the rise in hospitalisation which puts a lot of strain in the health facilities in Gauteng.
“The trends are clearly showing that other provinces are going to experience the trend that we are seeing in Gauteng, notably in the Western and Northern Cape,” said Kubayi-Ngubane.
Acting Health Minister Kubayi provides an update on the response against the Covid-19 pandemic https://t.co/riLQPObMN6
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) June 26, 2021
According to the World Health Organisation, the Delta variant was the most transmissible of the variants identified so far.
South Africa was the worst-hit country on the continent in terms of confirmed Covid-19 infections and deaths during a third wave of infections.
This week WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the lack of vaccines in poor countries was exacerbating the variant’s transmission.
Watch the video below (Courtesy: SABC)
PICTURE:
By Betha Madhomu
