Acting Health Minister Says Surge in Covid-19 Cases in Gauteng Will Affect Other Provinces
- Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane briefed the country on the developments of the Covid-19 on Friday morning
- Kubayi-Ngubane stated that the current third wave of the coronavirus is being driven by the Gauteng province
- Kubayi-Ngubane warned that the large increase in the infection rate could spill over to other provinces
PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see Briefly.co.za News on your News Feed!
Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said on Friday that the increase of Covid-19 cases in Gauteng will "inevitably" spread to the rest of the country.
Source: Getty Images
Kubayi-Ngubane spoke at an early morning briefing alongside Department of Health officials and scientist Professor Barry Schoub to give an update on Covid-19 rise in infections as well as the government's vaccine rollout programme.
"Other provinces should not have a sense of complacency. The numbers are a demonstration of an upward trajectory, and it's inevitable that Gauteng's cases will spill over into rest of country," Kubayi-Ngubane said.
She stated the third wave is largely being driven by Gauteng with the province seeing an increase of 9 521 cases of new infections on Thursday. This is 59% of the country's overall new infections.
The total number of new infection rates in South Africa 16 078 with the Western Cape province coming in second with 1 912 new cases. It is reported that 148 people died of Covid-19, according to News24.
PAY ATTENTION: Never miss breaking news – join Briefly News' Telegram channel
Kubayi-Ngubane said that the country is accelerating the vaccine rollout programme. The Department of Health is expecting an increase in vaccinations.
According to Bloomberg, Kubayi-Ngubane stated that health officials had received 1.5 million shots of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and are expected to receive 2.1 million shots Pfizer vaccine.
“With the anticipated flow of vaccines to come, we are now confident that we will be building towards that 300,000 daily mark target that the president has set for us,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.
Covid-19 may infect brain cells and cause loss of brain tissue, studies say
Briefly News recently reported that Covid-19, according to Dutch researchers, can infect brain cells, ultimately leading to a possible trigger of neurological and psychological issues. The spead of the virus stops relatively quickly, which causes a limited amount of damage however, it triggers cytokines.
Cytokines are small proteins within the immune system that act as messengers. This is according to a microbiology journal in the US-based mSphere. When the Covid-19 virus became prominent, many sufferers complained about psychiatric and neurological disorders.
The disorders include headaches, memory problems, encephalitis and rare psychoses.
According to BusinessInsider, UK Biobank conducted a study that drew data from Covid-19 survives that proved that there was a loss of grey matter. The long-term experiment involved around 782 volunteers.
Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news!
Source: Briefly News
