Signs of hope

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a recent letter to the nation that he had seen signs of the rapid rise in cases stabilizing. The country's health system, which is under severe strain, is managing to cope, he added.

"The number of new infections has slowed in the provinces of Western Cape, which includes Cape Town, Eastern Cape and Gauteng, which includes the major cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria," Ramaphosa said.

Referring to hard-hit Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, he said, "The health system so far has had sufficient capacity to cope with the number of admissions."

He said, however, that in the Eastern Cape several public hospitals were overwhelmed and a specialist team has been deployed to help.

He added that the government acted quickly to deliver adequate supplies of personal protective equipment to areas where there were shortages. It is also working to crack down on corruption during the buying and distribution of medical materials, he said.

Clayton Hazvinei Vhumbunu, technical officer with the Faculty of Humanities at Rhodes University in Eastern Cape province, said COVID-19 will "definitely have far-reaching implications not only on our social life but also in economic terms".

He said people working from home find it hard to form new connections and networks, and have to socialize through online platforms. With restricted working hours enforced at most businesses, shopping and banking have become more difficult.

"I have taken part in several webinars where some participants have been asked to mute their microphones due to background noise or frequent disruptions," he said.