‘We are ready to tackle Covid in 2021’
Professor Abdool Karim: lessons of the past year have given SA the foundation to deal with it
PROFESSOR Salim Abdool Karim, co-chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19, believes the country is in a better position to deal with the pandemic in the year ahead.
Today marks one year since the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in the country.
Abdool Karim, an infectious diseases epidemiologist who is also the director of Caprisa, highlighted key issues relating to the epidemic while speaking at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Nelson R Mandela Medical School yesterday.
Abdool Karim said 2021 would be a different challenge compared to last year, but he was confident that South Africa was in a better position to take on this year.
“I feel the lessons of the past have given us the foundations to deal better with this pandemic in 2021,” he said.
Recalling when the first Covid-19 cases were confirmed, Abdool Karim said he had been disturbed and deeply concerned at the time.
“Those patients who got Covid-19 were treated like lepers in some instances. People were worried and scared.”
At the time, he said uncertainty and a lack of knowledge about how the virus was transmitted led South Africa into a situation where many of the first patients faced problems.
Abdool Karim said the first Covid-19 patient, from KZN, who tested positive with a mild case of the disease after returning from a holiday in Italy, was very fortunate.
He said the doctor who treated “patient zero” had good Covid-19 procedures already in place. “The doctor wasn’t hesitant to see him, care for him, be his doctor and manage him, but some … other patients have had (a) problem.”
Abdool Karim added that the first patient gave many people hope. “He got the disease, had it in a mild form, and he recovered.”
Abdool Karim said he had learnt five lessons from last year, including dealing with a threat of this nature seriously and timeously. “You have to make difficult decisions bravely because you have to do what’s needed, even if it’s unpopular.”
He said truthful and proactive communication was important.
Abdool Karim said the Covid-19 response had had its challenges, and mistakes had been made along the way.
He said although there had been some irrational regulations and corruption related to the procurement of personal protective equipment, he had also seen what South Africans were capable of when working together.
“I firmly believe our future lies in our ability to work together. To understand that to solve this pandemic, we cannot do so if we work in isolation.”
Looking ahead, Abdool Karim further explained that South Africa could expect to be dealing with the virus for a few years unless there were technological advances, and ways of dealing with the variant of the virus causing Covid-19 were discovered.
He said the variant had shown that as pressure was placed on the virus, it mutated. The mutation then found a way to bypass a vaccine, resulting in another vaccine being made to deal with the variant. “It is going to take us a longer period to get to a position where we can live lives in a state of normalcy as best we can.”
When asked what the likelihood was of South Africa again being placed under a strict lockdown – with people forced to stay at home – Abdool Karim said there would be no need for that because the country now knew what behaviours must be implemented to control the virus.
He added that at first, he could not see a link between the ban on alcohol sales and the virus response. “By the end of level 5, when I first saw the evidence emerging, I began to see the importance of the alcohol (sales ban). Alcohol has nothing to do with the virus, but everything to do with the health system.”
Speaking during a dialogue event with the National Press Club last night, Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize said the past year had been tumultuous and there was a lot of work that still needed to be done.
Mkhize thanked all the health workers who had done everything they could to help save the lives of those infected with Covid-19. He also offered his condolences to all the families who had lost loved ones. “I think there’s a bit of hope now as we have started the processes of vaccination and we hope that one of these days we can look back and say we can now take control of our lives as we have defeated the virus.”
However, he urged the public to continue adhering to health regulations to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Val Boje, chairperson of the National Press Club, named Covid-19 as the 2020 newsmaker of the year and virtually presented the newsmaker award to Mkhize in honour of all those at the forefront of fighting Covid-19 in the past year.
Mkhize said the award was for all South Africans fighting Covid-19 – for the health-care workers who had been fighting the pandemic and all those who have had to endure it. “We accept it on the basis that we all understand that those are the people who are being honoured.”