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THE SA MEDICAL Research Council (MRC) has warned that a third wave of Covid-19 is coming in the next few weeks.
The MRC told Parliament’s portfolio committee on health today that there were indications that the third wave was at the door.
The president of the MRC, Professor Glenda Gray, said work was under way to roll out vaccines in the next few months.
She said the country was receiving 80,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine every 14 days.
They hope there will be an increase in the number of health care workers who are inoculated.
Gray told MPs that more than 190,000 health care workers have been injected with the J&J vaccine.
She said the third wave was on the horizon.
“In terms of the third wave, yes, I think we are all worried about the third wave, particularly after the April weekend, the Easter holidays as we go into winter and, as we spend more time indoors, the third wave is imminent,” said Gray.
“If you watch our burden of disease, we have seen with weekly mortality (rates) that there is a slight uptick. We need to keep an eye and monitor the excess deaths in the country,” said Gray.
– Political Bureau