ADF STAFF
The U.S. government announced plans to send 729,000 protective masks to South Africa’s National Department of Health to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The respirator masks meet European Union standards and are equivalent to N95 masks. The National Department of Health is to distribute the masks to health workers on front lines in all nine of South Africa’s provinces.
“We face a reality going forward [that] we are going to experience a need for various equipment, a lot of demand in personal protective equipment,” said South African Deputy Minister of Health Joe Phaahla. “This contribution of equipment from the United States of America could not have happened at a better time, because we are really battling to create a capacity to protect our health workers.”
The first delivery of 76,000 masks was made May 15. The donations come from the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Biological Threat Reduction Program.
South Africa has the continent’s highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at more than 19,000, with nearly 400 deaths. But the country also has led the way in testing, accounting for about one-third of Africa’s tests so far.
Wearing cloth masks is mandatory for all South Africans who go out in public, and stores will not serve customers who aren’t wearing them. With winter approaching in South Africa, wearing a mask also may reduce the spread of influenza and other respiratory illnesses, which are hard to distinguish from COVID-19.
“The collaboration between the people of the U.S. is just not in words or promises, but in good relationships,” Phaahla said. “COVID-19 has no border, no race or no gender, and I assure you these masks will go toward saving South African lives.”
The U.S. donation came as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced plans to ease lockdown restrictions, which would allow only students in grades seven and 12 to return to school by June 1. Strict lockdown restrictions were to remain in metropolitan areas hardest hit by COVID-19, including Cape Town, the Western Cape, Guateng and Johannesburg.
“This coronavirus is taking a heavy toll not only on the health of our people, but also their ability to earn a living, to feed themselves and their families, to learn, to develop, but also to enjoy the basic freedoms we daily take for granted,” Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation. “We should never forget that the purpose of the lockdown was to delay the spread of virus and prevent a huge surge of infections.”
By delaying the spread of disease, South Africa was able to strengthen the capacity of its health systems and establish programs to help manage infections.
However, Ramaphosa emphasized that the battle against COVID-19 continues.
“This new phase will require each of us to change our own behavior in profound ways,” he said.
Comments are closed.