The National Institute for Communicable Diseases Head of Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, Prof Cheryl Cohen is at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. She is leading case-finding, case management and public health response coordination. Here she gives a masterclass on a Pandemics Masterclass in relation to the distribution of COVID-19, patterns and determinants of disease.
"A pandemic is a new disease that spreads throughout the world. This type of outbreak has bigger social, political, economic impact than the regular everyday outbreak."
Prof Cheryl Cohen, Head - Centre for respiratory diseases and meningitis: National Institute for Communicable Diseases
"The principle of containment would be firstly to identify the cases quickly and once you identify those cases quickly, you need to isolate them and prevent the type of contact that would cause onward spread"
Prof Cheryl Cohen, Head - Centre for respiratory diseases and meningitis: National Institute for Communicable Diseases