Decisive and strong leadership and intersectoral action from South Africa in response to the COVID-19 virus

摘要

To the Editor: South Africa (SA) reported its first case of coronavirusdisease 2019 (COVID-19) on 5 March 2020. For the 14 days fromthen until the time of writing (5 - 19 March), we have seen decisive,strong leadership from the President, and significant, importantand necessary co-ordination between different ministries includingEducation, Justice, Health, Trade and Industry, Transport, PublicWorks and Infrastructure, Finance, Cooperative Governance andTraditional Affairs, and International Relations and Cooperation. Inthese 14 days, SA has rapidly produced and implemented a numberof action items (Table 1). This intersectoral action and co-ordinationis something that has been needed for a long time to addressdevelopment in SA.