Cape Town– Although the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that Covid-19 does no longer constitute a global public health emergency, local authorities have warned the public not to let their guard down.
Professor Cheryl Cohen, of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), says that declaring an end to the pandemic means Covid-19 is no longer an unusual event.
She added it was behaving like other seasonal respiratory viruses.
She explained the main reason for this was the high level of immunity in the population.
This means it is very unlikely that we will have large outbreaks of Covid-19 again like we did in the pandemic.
"Covid-19 is circulating at a relatively constant low level,“ she said.
“Most cases are mild but there are severe cases which occur on an ongoing basis at a generally similar level to what we see for other respiratory viruses like influenza.”
She emphasised it was important that people continued to monitor COVID-19 as they did for other respiratory viruses such as influenza.
“For this reason the NICD will continue monitoring influenza and other respiratory viruses including Sars-CoV-2,” she added
“Practices to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses such as staying home when sick, covering mouth and nose when sneezing and coughing and frequent hand washing should continue as they reduce all respiratory virus infections.
“This is particularly important as we enter the winter influenza season.”
Spokesperson of the National Department of Health, Foster Mohale, said the country was not out of the woods yet.
"The situation is under control now,“ he said.
“Few positive cases as compared to during the peak of the pandemic, but people still test positive.
“The country has learnt positive lessons from the pandemic and this will assist with future pandemics preparedness.”
Mark Van Der Heever, provincial health spokesperson, said it was important to clarify the announcement by WHO.
"The fact of the matter is, the pandemic remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality especially in high-risk populations such as the elderly and people living with comorbidities,“ he said.
“The department, in line with WHO recommendations, continues to recommend vaccination especially for high-routine health services and will continue to offer services aimed at preventing and treating Covid-19.”
He said the Western Cape has introduced new technologies to ensure easy self-screening and follow up with TB and diabetes patients respectively through its data-led approach.
In a report on the 15th meeting of the International Health Regulations earlier this month, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said committee members highlighted the decreasing trend in deaths, the decline in related hospitalisations and intensive-care unit admissions, and the high levels of population immunity to Sars-CoV-2.