The five-level COVID-19 alert system has been introduced to manage the gradual easing of the lockdown.
This risk-adjusted approach is guided by several criteria, including the level of infections and rate of transmission, the capacity of health facilities, the extent of the implementation of public health interventions and the economic and social impact of continued restrictions.
The Ministerial Advisory Committee must advise the Minister of Health regarding which Alert Level should be declared nationally, provincially, in a metropolitan area, or a district, when taking into account
(a) the epidemiological trends of Covid-19 infections;
(b) the health system capacity in a specified area to respond to the disease burden; and
(c) any other factor that would influence the level of infection, hospitalisation and mortality.
Epidemiological trends includes a consideration of the trends in the number of tests done, number of persons screened, number of positive cases, number of recoveries and the demographic profile of the positive cases.
Health system capacity includes a consideration of the number of facilities available to support Covid-19, bed-occupancy levels for the various levels of care, human resource capacity, equipment and related resources.
