Durban - Amid the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus in the country, Duduzane Zuma has sent out a stern warning to South Africans saying that the country’s citizens needed to take the virus a lot more serious to avoid it having a detrimental impact on the country.
Zuma’s warning comes as the number of positive cases in the country continue to climb with the figures currently sitting on 274 confirmed cases.
In a video doing the rounds on social media, Zuma said: “My good brothers and my good sisters, I’m happy to see that some of us still have a sense of humor with regards to what’s going on in the world right now."
He added that it was good to laugh about situations that we had no control over, "but the one thing we need to keep in mind is that we need to take this a whole lot more seriously than some of us are taking it”.
He emphasised that the outbreak of the virus was a “very serious” global issue with stringent measures being put in place by governments all around the world, including the South African government, in an attempt to curb the spread of Covid-19, people needed to listen to and abide by the measures.
Globally China, where the virus emanated, currently has 81 093 confirmed cases of the virus with 3 270 people dead from the virus.
The hardest hit nation in the world is Italy which has had 59 138 confirmed cases of the virus while it has the biggest death toll in the world with 5 476 confirmed deaths from the diseases.
“We need to take it a whole lot more seriously than some of us are taking it. We’re making a big joke out of something that is going to have a very detrimental impact on our society.
“So at this moment of time, let’s deal with this infection rate, let’s keep it contained, let’s try and reduce it so we can get back to carrying on with our lives because if we don’t we’re going to have some very serious problems in our country,” Zuma said.
He said with the majority of people living in tight and densely populated spaces if the pandemic hits townships and inner cities the country could face serious problems that it would not be able to cope with.
Political Bureau
* For the latest on the Covid-19 outbreak visit IOL's
.
** If you think you have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus, please call the 24-hour hotline on 0800 029 999