Covid-19: Third wave expected to end mid-August
The past week, Tshwane region has maintained a decrease on week-on-week infections but as schools reopen and regulations are relaxed, modellers and government call for vigilance.
Modellers expect that the current so-called “third wave” of Covid-19 infections to end mid-August as virus infections continued to drop recently.
“Despite this, we want to urge residents to remain vigilant,” warned Gauteng command council member Professor Bruce Mellado.
“The positivity rate is still quite high, we are still a high risk and cannot let our guard down.”
The latest statistics have shown a significant drop in Covid-19 infections in Tshwane.
This week the region recorded 6 868 decreases in active infections with 10 470 active infections as of Sunday compared to 17 338 the previous week.
A similar drop can be seen in the rest of the province, which has now passed the peak for the third wave in infections.
Although cases were low, there were parts of the region that had relatively high cases.
Tshwane district 3 (that includes areas such as Atteridgeville, Laudium, Pretoria CBD, Hercules, Danville, Saulsville and Lotus Gardens recorded) had the highest new cases last week in the province which mounted to 2 260.
Tshwane district 1 (that includes Ga-Rankuwa, Mabopane Winterveldt, Soshanguve and Rosslyn) and region 6 (including Eersterust, Lethabong, Mamelodi, Silverlakes and Garsfontein) also had 2 241 new cases.
Tshwane regions 4 and 1, which consist of Lyttelton, Eldoraigne, Waterkloof, Olievenhoutbosch, Rooihuiskraal, Centurion, Brooklyn and Hatfield, were however concerning.
“During the beginning of last week, there were sub-districts in Johannesburg and Tshwane that were not showing the decrease and were concerning but from Wednesday (July 21) the cases started to drop again,” he said.
According to the ministerial advising committee, an end of a wave is when the province records a seven-day rolling average for a week or two weeks of 15% or lower infections of the previous wave peak.
The peak of the second wave was 6 969 infections.
“We cannot simply move to level 1,” said Mellado.
“We have to gradually ease the restrictions. We expect the cases to continue to drop this week and in August we expect the wave to come to an end.”
Mellado said hospitalisations were also starting to slowly drop.
Tshwane mayor Randall Williams said the weekly drop was good news considering the ferocity of the third wave.
“I want to call on our residents to remain vigilant and adhere to all Covid-19 safety protocols such as wearing masks and sanitising regularly.”
Tshwane previous week recorded infections:
– 19 July, Monday: 681
– 20 July, Tuesday: 911
– 21 July, Wednesday: 1 448
– 22 July, Thursday: 1 302
– 23 July, Friday: 1 286
– 24 July, Saturday: 1 066
– 25 July, Sunday: 847
Overall, the region has recorded 231 868 infections, 216 801 recoveries and 4 597 deaths thus far.
On Friday, Gauteng premier David Makhura said the risk of spreading the infection from person to person in the community was still high.
“We should therefore avoid super-spreader events that could easily lead to outbreaks and spark a resurgence.”
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