SA's 8 stages in the fight against Covid-19: What you need to know

SA's plan to combat the global Covid-19 pandemic has been outlined in an eight-stage programme.

These stages were revealed by the chair of the ministerial advisory group on Covid-19, Prof Salim Abdool Karim, at a briefing in Durban on Monday night.

Abdool Karim said SA was currently on its fourth stage of combating the deadly virus.

So far, he said, the stages has been successful, but that more needed to be done.

In his presentation he highlighted the first four stages:

Stage 1: Preparation

• Community education

• Establishing lab capacity

• Surveillance

Stage 2: Primary prevention

• Social distancing & hand-washing

• Closing schools and reduced gathering

• Close the borders to international travel

Stage 3: Lockdown

• Intensifying curtailment of human interaction

Stage 4: Surveillance & active case-finding

• The Community response: door-to-door screening,testing, isolation and contact tracing

He said the next four stages were crucial in the way the country deals with what is to come.

Stage 5: Hotspots

• Surveillance to identify & intervene in hotspots

• Spatial monitoring of new cases

• Outbreak investigation & intervention teams

Stage 6: Medical Care (for the peak)

• Surveillance on case load & capacity

• Managing staff exposures and infections

• Building field hospitals for triage

• Expand ICU bed and ventilator numbers

Stage 7: Bereavement & the Aftermath

• Expanding burial capacity

• Regulations on funerals

• Managing psychological and social impact

Stage 8: Ongoing Vigilance

• Monitoring Ab levels

• Administer vaccines, if available

• Ongoing surveillance for new case