Violent unrest in South Africa imperils COVID-19 response

Hospital resources pushed to limit as violence, looting grip parts of country already struggling to cope with pandemic.

A six-month-old baby, shot in the head during a crossfire, was among the patients treated by Dr Suhayl Essa at central Johannesburg’s Hillbrow Clinic on Sunday. Later that day, four foreign nationals, each stabbed in the chest in suspected bouts of xenophobic violence, arrived in the space of half an hour, followed a man whose eyeball was left almost hanging from its socket after being struck by a rubber bullet. “I feel like the citizens of this country have lost their humanity for their fellow man,” said Essa, 28. During his 14-hour shift, Essa could hear the crackling of gunshots outside. After each salvo, a new wave of patients would enter – many of them intoxicated and violent.