President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on South Africans to care for elderly people and ensure that they don’t contract the novel Coronavirus global pandemic.
In his weekly letter, the president noted that older people were at the highest risk of dying of COVID-19.
“Coronavirus can infect anyone, but older people are among those at highest risk of getting severely ill and possibly dying. Sadly, there have been a number of coronavirus outbreaks at old age homes and care centres, resulting in a number of deaths,” he said.
Ramaphosa said research by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases showed that a third of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 had at least one co-morbidity.
He said this was a significant concern for a country that has a high prevalence of HIV and Tuberculosis, which was the leading cause of natural deaths in South Africa last year.
The president said more than 4,5 million South Africans had diabetes, a figure that has doubled since 2017.
“Difficult though it may be, we should not expose our elderly mothers and fathers to the virus through social visits. Let us keep in touch with them by phone or video messaging,” he said.
Ramaphosa’s comments came as the number of people infected by the virus rose to 196 750, which was an increase of 8 773 new cases from yesterday.
The deaths related to Coronavirus now sit at 3199.
“While the COVID-19 fatality rate is low in South Africa compared to the rest of the world, the rising number of infections is a caution against complacency,” Ramaphosa said.
