Pretoria – Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Thursday urged South Africans to live healthy lifestyles and boost immunity as the cold winter season approaches in a bid to avoid contracting the coronavirus (Covid-19).
“We want to say to our people, let’s all get ready because the flu season is coming. People must just keep warm and avoid getting cold. Those who can take nutritional supplements, go for them.
"Those who want to take anything that will boost your immunity, all those things are encouraged even though we don’t provide them as government,” Mkhize said in Bloemfontein.
“We are saying people must do everything that will make them feel stronger and healthier and more ready to deal with the flu. When you have symptoms, come forward and let us talk about them and see how we can assist you.
"When the flu infections come up, it becomes very difficult because the symptoms are the same. It’s difficult to know whether it’s the rotavirus, Covid-19 virus, or whatever other virus.”
The minister announced that confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa had increased to 1 462.
“The total number of those who have tested today stands at 1 462 and so there has been quite an increase. But even with all that increase, we have indicated that there is a restraint in the numbers, which we think is an impact of the lockdown.
"The fact that we have closed the borders, there isn’t a lot of movement with people coming from outside, the fact that people are in their homes means that there is not a lot of mixing of people in large volumes and large numbers,” Mkhize said.
“That has really made a huge impact. But it is still very early days, we are only just starting and our projections are indicating that we still need to get out and go and find more people who could be positive out in the community. We will continue to do that,” the minister said.
On Tuesday, the confirmed cases stood at 1 353. South Africa is under a 21-day national lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.
African News Agency (ANA)
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** If you think you have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus, please call the 24-hour hotline on 0800 029 999 or visit sacoronavirus.co.za