Lockdown diaries - COVID-19 matters!

What are you going to be doing during the lockdown?

  • At home. I’m non essential

    Votes: 70 41.2%
  • Working. The virus doesn’t scare me

    Votes: 41 24.1%
  • On standby

    Votes: 10 5.9%
  • Working from home. Too essential to take any risk!

    Votes: 66 38.8%

  • Total voters
    170
  • Poll closed .

This might be the reason for the jump in numbers. But if it continue for the next few days, start stocking up on pineapples again.


Rapid antigen tests added to Covid-19 statistics

https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/new...atistics-ec75cd1c-0b12-4a50-94f1-7306683fa9ea

The Department of Health has added the rapid antigen tests on the line of Covid-19 statistics, effective immediately.

“As of 8 November 2021, we have identified approximately 75 000 antigen tests that need to be captured into the database. Of these tests, about 20 813 were diagnosed as positive for Sars-CoV-2,” the department said in a statement.

Testing for Sars-CoV-2 in South Africa is based on the gold standard of a laboratory-confirmed PCR test. Initially all Covid-19 positive cases were diagnosed through this method.

However in October 2020 rapid antigen tests were approved for use by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) and have been increasingly used by health-care professionals to diagnose Covid-19. The country’s Covid-19 surveillance data is premised on capturing laboratory-confirmed case data of both the PCR and rapid Covid-19 antigen tests.

“These tests provide easier access to testing and provide results within 15 to 20 minutes of testing. Multiple manufacturers are now producing these tests and use them for testing in line with Sahpra’s approval,” health authorities said.
 
The backlog of tests that weren’t captured on time are supposed to be added to the totals without reflecting on the new cases otherwise it’ll create confusion about the actual numbers…. I don’t think they’re making that mistake.
 
The backlog of tests that weren’t captured on time are supposed to be added to the totals without reflecting on the new cases otherwise it’ll create confusion about the actual numbers…. I don’t think they’re making that mistake.

Agree.

Also interesting to see the other provinces not going up if rapid tests are indeed added. Will wait to see the hospitalisation and death numbers go up. They can't really adjust those numbers.
 
Even though they described shifting levels for parts of the country early on, don't remember this ever happening. So if there's a lockdown, it's gonna be country wide...I imagine that there would be chaos if only part of it was shut down.
 
Even though they described shifting levels for parts of the country early on, don't remember this ever happening. So if there's a lockdown, it's gonna be country wide...I imagine that there would be chaos if only part of it was shut down.

With the 3rd wave they locked the Gauteng borders early on while the other provinces was still open. Not sure how they will do it this time around.
 
After all the work to get us off the red list, there we go back again. Remember to congratulate the anti-vaxxers. They worked very hard for this.

Covid: Africa travel restrictions over variant fear

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59424269

All flights from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini are being suspended, Mr Javid said.
 
Last edited:
With the 3rd wave they locked the Gauteng borders early on while the other provinces was still open. Not sure how they will do it this time around.

Jeez I can't even remember that, it's all one blur at this point. It will be super interesting if they do that before/during the holiday period.
 
Should we expect a family meeting?



The hospital numbers are still holding ok. If anything I don't think it would be something big. Maybe an adjustment to the curfew or gathering numbers.

But once the hospitalisation numbers start going up we will definitely see a level 2 or 3. We might see a few riots in the process.
 
This Greek naming convention is nonsensical. I think we should have a regte Suid Afrikaanse name for it and was thinking perhaps the PK variant would be appropriate.

Knowing us, our favourite viruses will get together for a bit of a party and we can start exporting COVAIDS in the next couple of months.
 
Another insightful article. If you are interested in Covid articles I would highly suggest following yourlocalepidemiologist on her blog or on Facebook.

New Concerning Variant: B.1.1.529


https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/new-concerning-variant-b11529?justPublished=true

Bottom Line: There’s still so much that we don’t know but what we do know is incredibly concerning. We are in a lull right now as we wait for scientific evidence to answer two questions as soon as possible:

  1. Does B.1.1.529 escape vaccines like we fear?

  2. Does B.1.1.529 continue to outcompete Delta like we’re seeing in South Africa?
b.png
 
Back
Top