Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla on Friday warned that although the country has not yet experienced any spike in Covid-19 infections linked to election campaigns, he stressed that this is not yet a point of comfort.    

In the lead-up to local government elections on November 1, Phaahla urged all political parties to approach their final campaign events with caution, saying they should limit the number of people attending their gatherings to 2 000 or less.

“We are aware that the next three days are going to be the most risky as political parties rally their supporters at big gatherings to motivate them to go out in big numbers on Monday,” he said.

Phaahla said it is too early to determine any risk posed by the election campaign, adding that it will likely only be known after November 15 whether the country came through the elections unscathed.   

“We know that even when there has been a super spreader event the effects will be felt 7 to 15 days later,” he said.

He said notwithstanding the fact that most gatherings are held outdoors, the risk is still high when large crowds gather with no social distancing, no masks and go on to sing and shout.    

“We know that our biggest weapon against Covid-19 at this stage is vaccination and we have to use every opportunity where people will be gathered to offer vaccination. We are, therefore, very pleased with the partnership we have struck with the IEC in this regard,” Phaahla said.

VACCINATION AT VOTING SITES

The Department of Health will be setting up mobile pop-up vaccination sites in the vicinity of at least 1 000 voting stations throughout the country, which will target areas mainly where the uptake of vaccination has been low.

Phaahla added that these sites will be set up in the voting precinct but outside of the area demarcated strictly for voting.

The rate of infections over the last 14 days has remained stable at a low base.

By Thursday, the total active cases were 18 568 compared with 46 577 a month ago.    

Total admissions to hospital as of Thursday was 3 939 compared with 6 173 on the same day last month and new cases have reduced by 22% over the last seven days.

Hospitalisations have reduced by 14.5% over the last seven days and the death rate reduced by 18%. Overall, the positivity rate is at 1.7% over the last seven days, with all provinces reflecting low positivity rates.