President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the further easing of level 3 regulations to curb the spread of COVID-19.
But the sale of tobacco remains banned, while alcohol will continue to be sold.
In his latest address to the nation, Ramaphosa noted that more industries would now be allowed to reopen their doors.
These include restaurants for sit-downs meals; licenced accommodation with the exception of home-sharing accommodation; conferences and meetings; cinemas and theatres; casinos and personal care services, including hairdressers and beauty services. Non-contact sports such as golf, tennis, cricket and others would also be allowed to operate again.
“Even with the measures we put in place to support companies, employees and poor households as part of the R500 billion relief package, there is a limit to how long these businesses can be closed,” he said.
“In each instance, specific and stringent safety requirements have been agreed on and will need to be put in place before a business can re-open, and protocols will need to be strictly adhered to for businesses to remain open,” he added.
Ramaphosa noted that since the move to level 3 from the beginning of June, the country’s response was focused on everyday things that each and every South African must do.
He reiterated that South Africans had to take personal responsibility to help in stopping the curb of the virus.
“At the same time, we have massively increased screening for coronavirus symptoms throughout the country, at every workplace, school, university, shopping centre, place of worship, taxi rank or other public space where people gather,” he said.
Ramaphosa’s sentiments came as the country’s number of new COVID-19 cases rose to 80,412, which is an increase of 4 078 new cases since yesterday.
The number of deaths recorded sits at 1 674.
Ramaphosa also welcomed a new breakthrough in the therapeutic trials for the management of the virus.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize noted today, that on Tuesday, UK-based trial of various potential treatments for COVID-19, Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 therapy (RECOVERY), had found that widely used steroid, Dexamethasone, could be used to treat some patients with coronavirus, who are on ventilators and on oxygen support.
The steroid is used in allergic reactions, asthma and other conditions where the inflammatory component of the disease needs to be controlled for better outcomes.
“We are extremely excited that there has been an important breakthrough in one of the therapeutic trials for COVID-19 management,” he said.
“The RECOVERY (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 therapy) trial has published results on the therapeutic merits of low dose dexamethasone which are extremely promising and are easily implementable in our country,” he added.
