And here's the second wave, plus five highlights from 'Vrye Weekblad'
Here's what's hot in the latest edition of the Afrikaans digital weekly
A full-scale second wave has crashed over three provinces and a fourth is nearly there. Hospitals in two provinces are fuller than ever — almost as full as the parties some people are throwing at the moment. How bad can it get?
The SA Covid-19 Modelling Consortium has released a new data dashboard, SACMC Epidemic Explorer, where you can see how every district is doing.
It is not looking great and it is human behaviour that got us back here again.
Some Eastern Cape districts have more cases now than during the first wave and on the Garden Route, in the Overberg and in Cape Town there are significantly more than before.
KZN just entered its second wave, and Gauteng is on the increase.
According to the health department, the official death toll due to Covid-19 is 23,827 but the Medical Research Council says excess deaths are now at 56,607.
Read more about the pandemic and more news and analysis in this week's issue of Vrye Weekblad.
Is the second wave worse than the first?
Dr Harry Moultrie from the National Institute For Communicable Diseases (NICD) says: “There are currently geographical areas with more cases than during the first wave. What we need to keep in mind about interpretations of the differences between the two waves is access to testing and testing volumes.
“But we are seeing higher hospitalisations in some of the areas and it might be higher than during the first wave. We are getting an indication of a significant second wave in places.
“It is also important to remember that we had a significant number of cases during the first wave, which led to some immunity in (parts of) the population. But we are not certain if (the second wave) will be as bad, worse or not as bad as the first,” he says.
Must-read articles in this week's Vrye Weekblad
OUR CLEVER KARIM | Prof Salim Abdool Karim and Dr Anthony Fauci received the John Maddox Prize for 2020 this week for standing up for sound science in public. Who is this brilliant scientist who leads SA through the Covid storm?
FREE TO READ — HAPPINESS FOR SALE | Scientists have allowed themselves to be dragged into the sale of happiness online.
ANOTHER MAD WEEK IN POLITICS | Max du Preez looks at chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng's 666 madness, and Bheki Cele, who took his generals to the beach.
BLOOD ON THE SCREEN | Is it the puzzle, the fear, the strange characters that make us so obsessed with true crime on the small screen?
FESTIVE OFFER | Get a fabulous discount if you subscribe to Vrye Weekblad now.