Every household should plan for a possibility of a family member getting infected with the coronavirus.

This is according to President Cyril Ramaphosa who, in his weekly newsletter, said South Africans should generally be concerned - but not alarmed - about the high coronavirus infection rate.

Ramaphosa said that families should make plans around what to do in the eventual case of a family member getting infected especially in households with the elderly or people with other illnesses such as TB, high blood pressure, obesity and others that have been identified as comorbidities.

This has been one of the biggest concern as it is impossible to social distance, self-quarantine or isolate in homes especially in the low-income households where there is a lot of people living in a small space.

“Each household should look at how they can protect elderly people and those with underlying conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, TB or HIV. Do plan for the possibility that someone in the family may become infected and whether you will be able to isolate them from family members until they are better,” Ramaphosa said.

“If not, find out where the closest government quarantine site is. You should also plan ahead for what to do if someone gets sick.”

He said that the country’s positive cases were likely to reach the 50,000 mark and 1,000 deaths this week.

As it stands, 48,285 positive cases have been confirmed with 998 deaths mostly in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

“Like many South Africans, I too have been worried as I watch these figures keep rising.

“While these numbers are broadly in line with what the various models had projected, there is a big difference between looking at a graph on a piece of paper and seeing real people becoming infected, some getting ill and some dying,” Ramaphosa said.

He said that they were expecting even higher numbers of infections and hospitalisations as the virus is nearing its peak.

The peak is expected in winter days where most people would exhibit flu symptoms that are similar to that of coronavirus. This will mean a lot of doctors would be referring a large number of for testing.

This would also happen at a time when the country opens up the economy allowing millions to return to work, opens schools and relaxes the lockdown measures and lifting the ban on a lot of things including movement of people, alcohol sales - and later tobacco under lockdown alert level 2.

“You can also do much to prepare as individuals and families. Already many have made the effort to learn as much as they can about the disease, how to identify the symptoms and how to avoid getting infected or infecting others.

“Many people have thought about how they can go to school or work safely, and how they can change their shopping behaviour or how they worship to minimise the risk of infection,” Ramaphosa said.