The Free State Health Department says it’s concerned about the surge in the number of new coronavirus infections in the province. It activated all its health resources to tackle the increase.
Health officials have attributed the latest increase to school clusters and social gatherings linked to the Easter holidays.
The province recorded 222 new infections on Friday with most infections reported in Mangaung Metro and Fezile Dabi District.
The Free State is among three provinces the National Institute for Communicable Diseases says is experiencing an upsurge in COVID-19 cases. The others are the Northern Cape and North West provinces.
Free State Health plans to increase the number of COVID-19 vaccination sites:
Despite this, however, in the streets of Bloemfontein, most people seem ignorant of the pandemic.
For many, life seems to be back to normal with only a few wearing masks, while social distancing is non-existent. Though, some say they are fully aware of the danger posed by COVID-19.
“I do believe that the third wave is going to be as deadly as the first wave and the second wave and hopefully we will survive. I am definitely worried, especially for the children because we, as adults, are so ignorant, we are not setting an example for our children,” says one resident.
“It’s the same as the first and second wave, just that now they think that it’s going to be more severe than the other waves,” adds another community member.
Work is under way to increase screening, testing and contact tracing in the province.
Free State Health MEC, Montsheng Tsiu says: “The numbers grew especially after Easter holidays where we can say some people came from home being infected and they came to school and they infected other students and even the teachers. We can say some people had family gatherings but unfortunately, they are not adhering to non-pharmaceutical protocols they don’t wear masks, they don’t observe the social distancing and that is why we are seeing the numbers going up in Free State.”
Overall, the Free State has recorded over 86 000 cases with a 93% recovery rate, about 3 800 deaths have been recorded.
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