NOW THAT'S CLEVER!

South African brainboxes have been coming up with smart solutions to the challenges posed by Covid-19

- KIM ABRAHAMS & CHARLEA SIEBERHAGEN-GR

SOMETIMES all the bad news about the corona­ virus pandemic can be quite overwhelming. Spi­ralling infection rates and death tolls, massive job losses and people facing starvation, shortages of medical equipment . . . how will we ever win the war against the virus?

But history also teaches us that crises bring out the best in people. In times of great need, we make a plan. And in this area, South Africans aren’t standing back and waiting for other countries to take the lead.

With a heady mix of innovative ideas and technology, local bright sparks have already come up with new ways to resist the onslaught of Covid­19.

They’re making things a little easier for care workers serving on the front­line as well as ordi­ nary people whose lives have been completely disrupted by the pandemic.

SEARCH FOR A CURE

Long before the first case of Covid-19 was reported in SA, Professor Helen Rees and her team were already on the hunt for drugs that could potentially halt the dreaded virus in its tracks.

Together with infectious diseases expert Dr Jeremy Nel, she’s coordinating South Africa’s contribution to the Solidarity Trial run by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which is aiming to test possible treatments for Covid-19.

Now millions of South Africans are putting their hope in Rees, who also chairs the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).