Link to Article: https://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00081919.html
As of monday April 25th South Africa recorded 3,762,911 cases of Covid-19 which include 252,775 fatal cases and 3,000 cases just in the span of 24 hours, making this surge the highest since January 8th. As of right now the head of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is spectating whether the current Omicron variant is being replaced by a worse subvariant that may be causing the sharp incline of Covid cases. Currently the parliament’s Health Committee says there is no evidence of a covid resurgence in areas like schools and old age homes.
I think it’s important to note that currently South Africa’s vaccine coverage is very high as well as the fact that over 80% of South Africans have already most likely had the virus allowing immunities to have built up over time to the virus. With these things in mind Covid is less impactful due to the sole reason that countries around the world are considerably more prepared than the first breakouts in 2020. It is reported that right now the Gauteng province, the nation’s economic hub, is the most affected in the latest surge in cases and not the severity of the cases themselves.
This article makes me think of the recent notes reviewed regarding comparative governments. During the past 2 years now Covid hit everywhere in the world but impacted areas extremely differently and some of the severity of the impacts on different countries can be traced back to how different governments around the world were ran and what services and medicines they were able to provide at a fast rate. For example, an area with less hospitals available had a harder time to provide bed spaces needed for the ill and breathing equipment for those who had bad affects from the virus itself. Also the availability of Covid tests and Covid shots later o differed depending on the government which one was under, as well as the restrictions citizens under a government faced to prevent the spread (recently China has been insanely strict compared to the U.S. easing regulations).