Thomas Johnson - Medical Blog

A friend in Mauritius told me as from Thursday afternoon the Mauritian government imposed restrictions including that people must stay home for two weeks. All shops are closed except supermarkets and pharmacies. Thursday morning everything was fine, but it's only after three(?) local Covid-19 infections were reported that restrictions were announced that afternoon. Until then citizens lacked official information and still don't have much information - what to do, etc - because government is not communicating well. By yesterday there were 19 infections and one death. Mauritius' slow response is typical of how non-Asian countries including South Africa reacted to the virus' rapid spread - it's a "Chinese virus" denialism. Now they're reacting too late and panicking. They didn't learn from China's and later South Korea's, Taiwan's and Singapore's experience: lockdown, tracing and testing. The Guardian writes : "The firs...

News report: assault charge reinstated against teacher (see here ). I wrote here that it's easier to be charged and prosecuted for racism than real crimes like those I relate here and elsewhere in my blog . It's a fact the NPA is influenced by politics and ANC - what to prosecute and not prosecute. But to be clear, it's a fact Cape Town's DPP Rodney de Kock (an unsuccessful applicant for NDPP that Shamila "The Shy" Batohi got) is swayed by political pressure and considerations from the DA WC government, including former premier Helen Zille. I have proof - it's not DA bashing or speculation. Two years ago De Kock, who only appears in court when there's a photo op available, dropped a so-called ongoing investigation of serious charges including culpable homicide and fraud against Western Cape Health Department employees after Zille instructed her agent to interfere in the "investigation". Last year he and SAPS refused to investigate co...

In a vain effort to instil confidence, Western Cape health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo says "Relax, we got this" at a visit to Tygerberg's Covid-19 isolation ward . A couple of things about her: she was Helen Zille's affirmative action appointee that the present baas , Premier Alan "Windbag" Winde, kept in his 50/50 white cabinet. All medical, administrative and I daresay political decisions about health are made by her putative boss, head of health Dr Beth Engelbrecht (Winde's only a matriculant and doesn't know from nothing), a white. Mbombo is a cipher really, only coming out to speak at ribbon-cutting ceremonies, etc like the Covid unit. A couple of things about Tygerberg: if this is where the WC's Covid-19 unit is then lord help us. It's in such a poor state that officially it would be cheaper to demolish it than attempt repairs. From what I've heard, one might get infections from just entering its doors, and that was before Covid-1...