PAAZA Executive has decided to postpone the face-to-face 2021 conference. This decision was not taken lightly but was based on these uncertain pandemic times (regulations, travel restrictions and lockdowns), economic challenges and taking heed of the warnings from the medical and scientific professions:
“South Africa is going to get a third wave of coronavirus, even a fourth. This pandemic has only just started,” said Tivani Mashamba, professor of diagnostic research at the University of Pretoria. “Covid fatigue, super-spreader events and a virulent local variant of the virus put the economy and healthcare in crisis.” PAAZA comment: This is true for most of our beloved region, Africa.
Glenda Gray, president of the Medical Research Council, urged South Africans to curb the spread of the new variant of Covid-19, warning that the country will be hit by recurring waves until population immunity is achieved.
“As long as the virus is circulating, there will be variation … we need to understand that when this wave is over, there is going to be a third and fourth wave.” But, she said, this cycle is in our hands.
“People need gentle encouragement and peer pressure, not brutal policing, to encourage good behaviour to stop transmission. Until we have a vaccine, it is imperative to implement nonpharmaceutical interventions,” she said.
