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Our battle against the COVID-19 virus is far from won, but we are over the worst of the surge.

That’s according to health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, who revealed today that the declining numbers of infections could see us drop to alert level 1 “in a few days time”.

Stats released last night show that there were an additional 1 079 confirmed infections, and 82 deaths, in the previous 24 hours, bringing the totals to 640 441 and 15 086 respectively.

There are currently 57 626 confirmed active cases in the country.

Mkhize said that June, July, and August were our worst months, reports TimesLIVE, although even then, the numbers fell short of some of the predictive models used by government:

“A major factor is that we embarked on containment measures, and there may well be other factors in the environment here. We are very grateful for the support we got from South Africans to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus.”

Asked when the county could move to level 1 and what measures would be put in place, Mkhize said President Cyril Ramaphosa would give an indication in a few days.

“It’s too early to say. We are still discussing all the issues. The president will give us a sense of direction, but we will be preparing to start easing to the next level,” he said.

Perhaps a Sunday evening 8PM address from President Ramaphosa is on the cards?

Mkhize says that because there was no major spike when South Africa dropped from alert level 3 to alert level 2, there is a degree of confidence that the same could be true for another reduction.

As always, though, there were words of caution:

“We need to still keep some measures around mixing, gatherings and so on, but we need to start opening up more economic activities as we move on. We need to get our economy back to its normal footing, we need to get people jobs, we need to get people to earn incomes. Everyone must be able to survive on their own without needing further assistance from government,” he said…

“We are not out of the woods. We must always be careful because infections may rise again in the same way this is happening in Spain, America, Iran and Korea.”

One look at our most recent GDP numbers and yes, it’s clear that the economy needs a jump-start.

A resurgence in the spread of the virus, and a return to stricter lockdown measures, would not do us any favours.

It’s difficult to gauge exactly what a drop to alert level 1 means in a practical sense, as everything is subject to change, but this is from the South African government’s official site, regarding alert level 1:

The curfew should be done away with (should, not will), and international travel will most likely not be permitted.

Still, it’s a good sign to move through the alert levels.

[sources:timeslive&sagov]