By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said in a statement that the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is 1 517 666 the total number of deaths is 50 462.
Mkhize said that the total number of recoveries is 1 436 101 and the total number of vaccines administered is 92 029.
Speaking on Thursday, Mkhize said there was no clear model predicting exactly when SA might see a third wave of Covid-19 infections, but the “suspicion” was that this could be in late April or early May.
“We need to understand that while we may not be able to predict accurately when the next surge is coming, it may well come when we have huge movement of people coming during the public meetings, or during the Easter weekend or during the Easter holidays when people are moving up and down. That might have an impact as well. We will be observing to see what is happening at that time,” he said.
Mkhize was speaking at a webinar hosted by the National Press Club and the GCIS.
He said the next wave could be delayed if people continued to keep up social distancing and using of masks.
According to Mkhize, the reduction in the severity of the second wave of infections was because of the extent to which people used masks and observed social distancing.
On how the government decided to ease the lockdown restrictions, the minister said they were guided by the hospitalisation numbers, the number of deaths and the general extent to which society was affected by Covid-19.
He said it was justifiable to ease the restrictions and move SA to lockdown level 1, as the country moved from recording 20,000 positive cases in a day to about 1,500 a day.