As part of its weekly programme, the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) met on Wednesday to receive updates on the management of the current third wave of COVID-19 in South Africa.
The updates included progress on the vaccination roll-out and the decision to accelerate the number of vaccinated citizens by expeditiously commencing with vaccinations for citizens of the ages of 50 plus, which commenced earlier than planned.
Furthermore, the NCCC has deliberated on the consideration of expanding to another age cohort.
The NCCC further noted that workplace vaccinations are also opened for all eligible employees in the relevant sectors as recently announced by the President.
Vaccination is rolling out well in the education and police sectors but also in workplace settings such as mines, agriculture and other productive settings.
Plans are advanced for the launch of registration of the army and military veterans and other essential service workers.
The experts also provided clarity that the Lambda variant is not yet detected in South Africa and that currently all precautions must be taken into consideration to ensure readiness for any eventuality of the variant being prevalent.
The NCCC further noted that more provinces are officially in the third wave of COVID-19.
“From discussions in the NCCC, every effort to scale up vaccination of the population will be crucial. But the biggest weapon in our arsenal to fight this pandemic remains strict adherence to washing and sanitising of hands, wearing a face mask, maintaining social distance and ensuring proper ventilation remain essential,” said acting Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.
South Africans are further urged to persevere and not allow fatigue to get them to drop their guard in adhering to COVID-19 protocols.
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