This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
Bloomberg reports that according to Nicholas Crisp, Department of Health deputy director general and the government official running the national vaccination program, SA’s strict measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus might limit the severity of the pandemic’s next wave.
The country has fully vaccinated about a third of its 40 million adults, and has kept in place prevention measures including a curfew, limits on gatherings and mandatory use of masks in public. The percentage of those vaccinated is higher among older citizens. Citing mathematical modeling, Crisp said in an interview: “If we continue with social distancing, we will still get a fourth wave, but it will be mild. It could be a quarter of the first wave — minimal. People will get infected and get sick and have a lousy Christmas,” but deaths and hospitalisations will be lower. Still, the abandoning of precautionary measures or the emergence of a new variant could change the outlook and the department was preparing for the worst. SA has had the worst confirmed outbreak on the continent, with almost 3 million infections and about 90,000 deaths. A measure of excess deaths puts likely coronavirus fatalities at almost three times the official figure.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Antony Sguazzin at Moneyweb
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page