A health worker interviews a resident outside her home in Cape Town, South Africa. By Linda NordlingScience's COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.With South Africa in its third week of a COVID-19 lockdown that will last at least through April, scientists advising the government gave a preview of the next phase of the response in a televised address on Monday evening.
They offered “a glimpse at the science behind the decision-making,” health minister Zweli Mkhize said during the briefing—and a roadmap for reopening the country.South Africa detected its first novel coronavirus infection on 5 March.
For the next few weeks, the epidemic followed an exponential curve similar to those in the United Kingdom, the United States,