Nelson Mandela Bay officially out of Covid-19 third wave

It is good news for Nelson Mandela Bay as the metro has finally eased out of the Covid-19 third wave.

This was announced by the department of health during a joint operation centre (JOC) meeting on Tuesday after the city only recorded 342 active cases with 136 hospital admissions as of Monday.

Bay mayor Nqaba Bhanga said the latest statistics reflected a collective effort from all stakeholders but that more needed to be done to keep the virus contained.

“For the first time in a while we heard good news in the JOC meeting today, where we learnt that our city is finally out of the long-dragging third wave.

“It has been a devastating period — at one point, we lost 21 people between August 22 and 30.

“Around the same period, our positivity rate was 31.4% and so many of our people had to be hospitalised, but we are now glad to have such low numbers,” Bhanga said.

“A lot of work still needs to be done and at the top of the list we need to ensure that residents get vaccinated against the virus — especially now that we are fast approaching the festive season.”

Bhanga, who led the presidential Vooma vaccination drive on Saturday, called for responsible electioneering from parties during the upcoming local government polls.

“The active cases can be low now, but it can take one superspreader event and everything can go wrong,” he said.

“We are calling on all political parties to please act responsibly during these gatherings, but, most importantly, we are calling on all residents to continue to adhere to all Covid-19 protocols, whether they are vaccinated or not.”

HeraldLIVE