TY - JOUR T1 - COVID-19: lessons and experiences from South Africa’s first surge JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004393 VL - 6 IS - 2 SP - e004393 AU - Devanand Moonasar AU - Anban Pillay AU - Elizabeth Leonard AU - Raveen Naidoo AU - Shadrack Mngemane AU - Wayne Ramkrishna AU - Khadija Jamaloodien AU - Lebogang Lebese AU - Kamy Chetty AU - Lesley Bamford AU - Gaurang Tanna AU - Nhlanhla Ntuli AU - Koleka Mlisana AU - Lindiwe Madikizela AU - Moeketsi Modisenyane AU - Christie Engelbrecht AU - Popo Maja AU - Funeka Bongweni AU - Tsakani Furumele AU - Natalie Mayet AU - Ameena Goga AU - Ambrose Talisuna AU - Otim Patrick Cossy Ramadan AU - Yogan Pillay Y1 - 2021/02/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/6/2/e004393.abstract N2 - On 5 March 2020, South Africa recorded its first case of imported COVID-19. Since then, cases in South Africa have increased exponentially with significant community transmission. A multisectoral approach to containing and mitigating the spread of SARS-CoV-2 was instituted, led by the South African National Department of Health. A National COVID-19 Command Council was established to take government-wide decisions. An adapted World Health Organiszion (WHO) COVID-19 strategy for containing and mitigating the spread of the virus was implemented by the National Department of Health. The strategy included the creation of national and provincial incident management teams (IMTs), which comprised of a variety of work streams, namely, governance and leadership; medical supplies; port and environmental health; epidemiology and response; facility readiness and case management; emergency medical services; information systems; risk communication and community engagement; occupational health and safety and human resources. The following were the most salient lessons learnt between March and September 2020: strengthened command and control were achieved through both centralised and decentralised IMTs; swift evidenced-based decision-making from the highest political levels for instituting lockdowns to buy time to prepare the health system; the stringent lockdown enabled the health sector to increase its healthcare capacity. Despite these successes, the stringent lockdown measures resulted in economic hardship particularly for the most vulnerable sections of the population. ER -