Professor Adrian Puren said the country was not out of danger yet with around just under 2,000 daily new infections.
FILE: A Doctors Without Border (MSF) nurse (C) performs a COVID-19 coronavirus test during a Ministry of Health screening and testing drive in the Wolhuter men’s hostel in Jeppestown district of Johannesburg, on 14 May 2020. Picture: AFP
JOHANNESBURG – The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is warning that a week into level one lockdown more people are coming into contact with each other and increasing their risk of contracting the coronavirus or passing it on.
Professor Adrian Puren said that the country was not out of danger yet with around just under 2,000 daily new infections.
He said that more tests must be done to ensure that the country had an accurate picture of how fast the virus was spreading.
“As we’ve gone through this risk-adjusted approach, more and more people are going to come into contact with each other with the greater movement and opening of our economy, schools, universities, workplaces, people being allowed in greater numbers in venues. I don’t think it will be a surprise in terms of an increase in spikes or clusters.”
From Thursday, the country will open its borders for international tourism.
There are concerns that this could result in a further increase in the infection rate.
