By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) on Wednesday reports 2,093 new Covid-19 cases identified in South Africa in the previous 24 hours. This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic to 3,973,086.
The NICD said this increase represents an 8.8% positivity rate.
The national health department reported another 27 deaths, 8 of which occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours. The cumulative Covid-19 deaths are 101,424 to date.
There were 85 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours, bringing to 2,285 the number of people in hospitals with Covid-19.
Meanwhile authorities in the Chinese city of Dandong, which sits on the border with North Korea, have indicated that they suspect winds have swept Covid-19 into their city from their ailing neighbour.
According to the local pro-government outlet Global Times, Dandong is currently facing a spike in daily coronavirus cases, and the border city has periodically locked down residential complexes since April.
However, city officials have been unable to establish a chain of transmission for the spread, nor have they determined how the virus is entering the city, Bloomberg first reported.
One potential answer they’ve reached is that the wind may be blowing the virus into residents’ homes from epidemic-stricken North Korea. According to NK News, Kim Jong Un’s regime has recorded more than 4.2 million “fever cases” — likely to be Covid-19 cases that the country can’t confirm due to a lack of testing kits.
In an online notice published on May 31, Dandong authorities urged residents to keep their windows open for ventilation and close them if one lives along the Yalu border river and there are southerly winds blowing.
The new advisory is a step up from China’s previous promotion of a “cold chain theory,” which suggested that Covid-19 first arrived in China via imported frozen food. The World Health Organisation has since refuted the theory.
There’s currently no scientific evidence that shows Covid-19 can spread over long distances through the air. According to the US Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention, the risk of transmission is highest when one is at a distance of three to six feet from an infected person.