By: Ollus Ndomu
Swaziland’s Health Minister has warned of the third wave of COVID-19 country.
In a press statement released Friday afternoon, the Minister said the neighboring South Africa has detected both the Indian and United Kingdom’s (UK) more deadly COVID-19 variants, adding that Swaziland has in the past week seen a surge in nee infections which could possibly be a sign of the third wave of Covid19.
“From previous waves, Eswatini is between 4-6 weeks behind South Africa in transmission patterns and we are therefore monitoring the situation and our cases closely in the country”, reads the statement.
Meanwhile, the President of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) Welcome Mdluli, has said the country has no capacity to fight the predicted third wave, warning many people would die.
“This is serious for Swaziland if the Indian variant has been discovered in South Africa, our health system cannot handle this variant which is spreading and killing faster than the previous variants and we have seen how it failed during the first and second waves. Government is failing to even provide medication for flu but we expect to win the fight against the third wave. We are also too relaxed as a country, we behave as if the virus is gone, it was too soon to open large gatherings. If we are serious about containing the Indian variant, we should also consider setting up COVID-19 testing centres near informal crossing points since those areas are super spreaders of the virus”, said the SWADNU President.
