Home South African Cancel all potential super-spreader events, urges hospital association

Cancel all potential super-spreader events, urges hospital association

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The Hospital Association of SA says lessons learnt from large events should be sufficient to persuade organisers of other potential super-spreader gatherings to cancel.

File Picture: David Ritchie

THE HOSPITAL Association of SA (Hasa) has called for all potential “super-spreader” events to be cancelled.

This follows the detection of the new Covid-19 Omicron variant, which has sparked a rise in coronavirus infections.

South Africa recorded 16,366 new cases, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Saturday, which represents a 23.8% positivity rate.

A further 21 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 89,965 to date.

The association’s deputy chairperson, Neil Nair, said lessons learnt from large events should be sufficient to persuade organisers of other potential super-spreader gatherings to cancel.

“We are sympathetic to the disappointment any such cancellations would have to people, in the case of the Rage events to matriculants who have been through an extremely difficult past two years. We are also sympathetic with the potential for revenue loss for businesses. However, infections are spiking and the positivity rate among tests indicates an imminent fourth wave.

“If the infection continues to spread, hardship will again come upon the most marginal in our society, our vulnerable will again be at risk, a lockdown may again become necessary, and our recovery from the pandemic will be further delayed.”

Nair added: “Vaccine mandates, while necessary and a step we believe the country should take, are only as strong as our observation of them.

“For us, this is the key learning from the Rage event in Ballito. It is simply better that no super-spreader events are allowed to take place.”

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