This archive report was first published on 20 May 2020.
On May 19, 2020, South Africa's Health Minister Zweli Mkhize faced criticism over the country's Covid-19 lockdown, but he argued that the measure has effectively stalled the exponential spread of the coronavirus.
According to Mr. Mkhize, the lockdown has given the healthcare sector time to prepare for the rising wave of infections and deaths.
"Had we done nothing, estimates show that by this point, as many as 80,000 South Africans would have been infected, and nearly 2,000 of our brothers and sisters would have lost their lives," the minister said, citing scientific models and estimates.
He was responding to criticism from the opposition, which claims that some lockdown restrictions are too harsh, nonsensical, and not based on scientific principles, and thus should be brought to an end.
The Western Cape province, governed by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), accounts for 60% of the national cumulative cases, with cases increasing exponentially on a daily basis compared to the rest of the country, Mr. Mkhize said.
As of May 19, 2020, South Africa had recorded 17,200 confirmed Covid-19 cases, up by 767 from the previous day, and 312 deaths, an increase of 26, said Mr. Mkhize.
The Western Cape remains the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic with 10,639 cases and 187 deaths.
"Our mortality rate of 1.8% remains well below the global average, which is currently 6.6%, and our recovery rate is 42.4%, which is above the global average," he said.
Mr. Mkhize warned against ending the lockdown abruptly, saying that if people are allowed to flood back to the way life was before, infections would surge, effectively undoing everything that has been sacrificed thus far.
