Irresponsible behaviour behind Limpopo Covid-19 spike: health MEC

Limpopo was a shining example in the fight against Covid-19 during the first wave of the pandemic, but it took two weeks in December to turn that around. The province is now a hotspot after thousands trekked home for the festive season.

For nine months until November last year, the largely rural province had the lowest infection and death rates in the country, averaging between 15 and 50 daily infections. By December 11 it had recorded 577 deaths and 19,021 infections.

However, the figures skyrocketed in the third week of that month as parties, weddings and traditional ceremonies became the order of the day.

“We were having big parties around Christmas and the infection numbers shot up. People who were attending these parties and social gatherings started dying. When they started to die, people started attending funerals and the funerals became superspreaders, which kept swallowing our people,” Limpopo health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba said in an interview with Sowetan this week.

For the full story, please visit SowetanLIVE.

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