This archive report was first published on 17 July 2020.
South Africa's COVID-19 crisis has exposed the country's toxic relationship with alcohol, with devastating consequences for public health and the economy.
With 324,221 cases, South Africa ranks sixth in the world for coronavirus infections, according to an AFP tally.
At the same time, the country consistently ranks among the world's top per-capita alcohol consumers, a phenomenon fueled by easy access to drink and aggressive marketing.
When South Africa imposed a rare moratorium on alcohol sales on March 27 to combat the virus, emergency rooms were suddenly flooded with alcohol-related cases, including car crashes, gunshot wounds, and accidents.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said that when the ban was lifted on June 1, facilities reported a 60% increase in trauma emergency admissions and a 200% increase in ICU admissions due to trauma.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has since reinstated the ban, which is expected to free up nearly 50,000 beds in public hospitals over the next eight weeks, according to Charles Parry, director of the South Africa Medical Research Council's alcohol research unit.
Doctors were forced to choose between treating COVID-19 patients and those with alcohol-related trauma, Mkhize said.
"We are hoping that the number of trauma cases will come down," said Alaric Jacobs, spokesman for Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, one of the country's coronavirus hotspots.
Experts say South Africans need to re-examine their relationship with alcohol, which has been described as a "drinking problem" by clinical psychologist Sinqobile Aderinoye.
"The country needs to address some of the fundamentals of alcohol abuse," Aderinoye said, including easy access, aggressive marketing, and the legal drinking age of 18.
South Africa has been struggling with a drinking problem for some time, with 170 people dying daily from alcohol-related problems and 31% of the population over 15 drinking alcohol.
"We let things get so bad that we are now the sixth heaviest nation in terms of the amount we drink per drinker per day -- between five and six standard drinks per day," said Parry.
"We clearly have a problem," he added.
