SA’s plan to combat the global Covid-19 pandemic has been outlined in an eight-stage programme.
These stages were revealed by the chair of the ministerial advisory group on Covid-19, Prof Salim Abdool Karim, at a briefing in Durban on Monday night.
Abdool Karim said SA was currently on it’s fourth stage of combating the deadly virus.
So far, he said, the stages has been successful, but that more needed to be done.
In his presentation he highlighted the first four stages:
Stage 1: Preparation
• Community education
• Establishing lab capacity
• Surveillance
Stage 2: Primary prevention
• Social distancing & hand-washing
• Closing schools and reduced gathering
• Close the borders to international travel
Stage 3: Lockdown
• Intensifying curtailment of human interaction
Stage 4: Surveillance & active case-finding
• The Community response: door-to-door screening,testing, isolation and contact tracing
He said the next four stages were crucial in the way the country deals with what is to come.
Stage 5: Hotspots
• Surveillance to identify & intervene in hotspots
• Spatial monitoring of new cases
• Outbreak investigation & intervention teams
Stage 6: Medical Care (for the peak)
• Surveillance on case load & capacity
• Managing staff exposures and infections
• Building field hospitals for triage
• Expand ICU bed and ventilator numbers
Stage 7: Bereavement & the Aftermath
• Expanding burial capacity
• Regulations on funerals
• Managing psychological and social impact
Stage 8: Ongoing Vigilance
• Monitoring Ab levels
• Administer vaccines, if available
• Ongoing surveillance for new case
BY: ORRIN SINGH
SOURCE: TMG DIGITAL