Another hard lockdown not the answer - SAMA

There have been calls from several quarters for the level 5 lockdown to be reinstated following a sharp rise in Covid-19 numbers and related deaths.

 The recovery rate of the country has also been steadily decreasing dipped below 80% on Friday.

SAMA chairperson Dr. Angelique Coetzee says a focus on strengthening health facilities and vaccinating healthcare workers is a more sensible approach.

“The coronavirus is out there and returning to lockdown level 5 will only harm our already fragile economy, and place businesses who are already struggling in further jeopardy.

"The current level 3 lockdown is sufficient, but it must be accompanied by a wholesale improvement to medical care which requires a lot more focus on providing health facilities with resources to increase their capacity.”

Coetzee says the medical association is still calling for more and better quality PPEs for healthcare workers.

“We’ve all heard the stories and read the personal accounts of doctors who are struggling to cope with the lack of PPE, PPE which damages easily, of being overworked because of a lack of other medical professionals, or of equipment which either doesn’t work properly or which is simply not available.

“You can have as many beds as you want in any facility but without the medical expertise to treat a person lying in that bed it means nothing."

She says a vital step in dealing with the pandemic is to ensure that all healthcare workers in the country are vaccinated as soon as possible.