“We cannot be relaxing,” said Western Cape Health MEC Dr Nomafrench Mbombo during a virtual media briefing on Thursday, which was held with Premier Alan Winde and Health Department head Dr Keith Cloete to provide a health update and to discuss the second phase of the vaccine roll-out.
Regarding a third wave of infections, the MEC said the province was not out of the woods yet, particularly given the case increases in countries such as India.
She urged people to continue non-pharmaceutical interventions such as mask wearing and handwashing.
This call was echoed by Winde, who said a third wave will happen – “it’s a given”. He urged citizens to push out a third wave for as long as possible, but admitted he was concerned that “far too many people are behaving as if this thing is over”.
We wash sick people, said community health worker Cynthia Tikwayo. Some of us died of Covid-19, but their families didn t get anything.
Vaccinated
Accepting the memorandum, Mkhize said: I will discuss your complaints with the health committee. You must get vaccinated. I hear you.
Earlier on Monday, the health workers had snubbed several officials wishing to address them, insisting they would only speak directly to the national minister.
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Community health workers accuse Western Cape MEC for Health Nomafrench Mbombo of ignoring them.
Dr Saadiq Kariem, Chief of Operations for Western Cape Health, said: There are processes that are supposed to happen at the level of the bargaining council. We understand your concerns.
Health workers hand Mkhize list of demands in Cape Town thesouthafrican.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thesouthafrican.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A mobile X-ray clinic. Picture: WC Health
One of the most striking findings of South Africa’s first national Tuberculosis (TB) Prevalence Survey was that of 234 people found to have TB, around 58% had abnormal chest X-rays without experiencing any TB symptoms.
The survey findings also confirmed what many experts suspected – that tens of thousands of people with TB in South Africa are simply never diagnosed. Based on the survey it was estimated that 390 000 people fell ill with TB in the country in 2018 – of which around 154 000 never received a diagnosis.
As we recently reported in Spotlight, one solution to this under-diagnosis problem is simply to test more people who are at high risk of falling ill with TB (for example people living with HIV or people who live in the same house as someone with TB) rather than only testing those who report having TB symptoms.