SA is failing to meet the challenge of a second wave

SALIM Abdool Karim, a formidable and respected scientist, was blunt at the start of the initial Covid-19 lockdown: South Africa would not escape the worst of the coronavirus epidemic; an exponential spread was unavoidable.

That was six months ago. A second wave was inevitable and there was no clear strategy to tackle it then. There still isn’t one now.

Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize announced on Wednesday night, December 9, that the country had officially entered the second wave of the pandemic. The four provinces leading this new wave are the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Mkhize said teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 had been leading the rapid rise in infections at the time. There were 6 000 new cases recorded in a single day after a massive