While the country has exited the third wave, and Covid-19 cases have decreased, exhausted front-line medical staff are worried about the low turnout at vaccine sites nationwide.
Cape Town – South Africa is approaching a grim milestone in the fight against Covid-19. Nearly 20 000 people have died from the virus since it first surfaced in the country around March last year.
“I remember admitting the very first patient, seeing the X-ray, being amazed at how low her oxygen levels were. And I remember that this was exactly the same I was reading in the press and all the journals I was seeing from around the world. And I realised, you know what? This person is going to have a positive Covid test.”
Experts say the Sars-CoV-2 originated in bats, and made the jump to humans at a wet market in Hubei Province. This is where people buy meat, fish and even wild animals like snakes and dogs for human consumption. To date, the district hospital serving the area of more than 310 000 residents, has treated more than 4 500 people with Covid. Naude told the Weekend Argus at least 600 of those patients died.
"It is incredibly hard. It is so difficult. I try to understand where they come from. I try to understand that they have never been in a Covid ward. They’ve never seen people dying night after night after night. I understand that they have never had to organise teams of doctors just to complete death certificates so that we can actually make enough space in the hospital mortuaries, for the bodies to leave.
His message to those people who are hesitant about getting the vaccine is: “I understand that you are scared. I understand that you are worried that so many people have said so many different things about the vaccine and you don’t know who to believe.