Unnecessary Covid-19 deaths could have been prevented

THE Covid-19 strategy in South Africa could have been modelled on Brazil, India, Mexico and Peru and saved lives and livelihoods.

In these countries therapeutics together with vaccinations have had a great impact in preventing infections in part, and in preventing death in part also. Gauteng as one of the hot spots, with my local hospital in Kagiso, Leratong Hospital, now having only two beds left to admit Covid-19 patients, needs the emerging global South model and must forget ineffective models.

A study available on Google Scholar, titled: “Efficacy of Ivermectin in the Prophylaxis and Treatment of Covid-19” authored by Piere Kory et al (2021) indicates that ivermectin was used in cases of “long Covid”, “Covid morbidity and mortality”.

The countries with ivermectin mass distribution are said, by researchers from John Hopkins, to have fewer Covid-19 cases; this is cases of ivermectin being used as a prophylaxis agent.

It clear that South Africa is continuing on a discredited and unimaginative path, and that the proactiveness of policymakers and the advisory committee of the president and minister of health is incredibly limited compared to the countries we saw in the study. We the church should be concerned that so many families have been affected by Covid-19 and the best that we got was a lockdown – accompanied by police brutality, scandals and theft, deaths, reduced service delivery and a very slow vaccination path.

Many examples in the said report indicate that this was an unnecessary path, and that South Africa should have used its links in the global south to solicit advice and best practices.

South Africa together with Brazil are in BRICS, namely, there was a potential interaction between Brazil and India. Instead, South Africa opted for the Chinese lockdown model.

Is South Africa overly fixated on the Chinese in the avoidance of relationships with the Brazilians and Indians? The case of Covid-19 should convince Pretoria that its partnership with democratic states in the global south needs to be balanced with an alliance with superpowers like China.