5 Refer to the source below and answer the questions that…
5 Refer to the source below and answer the questions that follow. SA UNLIKELY TO AVOID ‘WILDFIRE’ SPREAD OF COVID-19, BUT LOCKDOWN BOUGHT TIME TOP SCIENTIST South Africa will likely not be able to prevent the exponential spread of Covid-19, with the full sweep of the disease to probably hit the country later this year. And although South Africa acted much earlier than other nations in identifying the virus and implementing measures to halt its spread, it has only bought the country time to prepare for what scientists are calling “almost inevitable”: a dramatic rise in infections. This is according to Professor Salim Abdool Karim, the chairperson of Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s Covid-19 advisory group who addressed a media briefing alongside other scientists. Professor Karim was joined by among others Professor Glenda Gray, the chairperson of the Medical Research Council, Professor Koleka Mlisana, a microbiologist from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and Professor Brian Williams, an epidemiologist formerly with the World Health Organisation. “What we have managed to do, is delay an exponential curve,” Karim said. “It is a difficult truth, but can we avoid the exponential spread? No… unless we have a mojo that other countries don’t have.” · Testing criteria, restricted to people only with certain symptoms, has been widened in the past few weeks to pick up more cases, together with a significant increase in testing capacity. · Major concern rested on Johannesburg, Cape Town and eThekwini (Durban), where a large outbreak was most likely to occur due to dense population numbers. News 24 reported on Sunday that government projections, presented to the Parliamentary health portfolio committee showed this peak infection scenario had been pushed back to September. “No one in the world has encountered this virus. We have no immunity, no vaccine, and no treatment. We are all at risk. “As soon as the opportunity arises for this virus to spread, it will go back to the exponential curve,” Karim said. Adapted from:https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/sa-unlikely-to-avoid-wildfire-spread-of-covid-19-but-lockdown-bought-time-top-scientist-2020