Johannesburg- President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for calm as the country continues to experience a spike in the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19.
Ramaphosa said government applauds scientists who are hard at work and helped identify the new variant, Omicron.
While addressing the nation on Sunday evening, he said the variant is said to have far more mutations than any other variants.
“If we do not take this seriously, we will continue to experience various waves. Other countries have made vaccination mandatory, and our government is setting up a task team to look at making vaccines mandatory,” he said.
In his speech, Ramaphosa said the increase in the number of positive cases mostly come from Gauteng and it is starting to show up in other provinces
“If cases continue to climb, we should expect to enter a 4th wave. We have the tools to protect ourselves against severe diseases, as well as death, that is why we encourage people to vaccinate, because vaccines work, and vaccines are saving lives. We must all do this for the recovery of many sectors like hospitality, tourism, and retail,” he said. He further said South African government is deeply sadden by the travel bans that are put in place by countries like the UK. “The travel bans are unjustifiable. We call upon the countries that have imposed travel bans to reverse them,” Ramaphosa further stated.
Regulations to be adhered to:
100 people allowed at funerals
Wear a mask
Keep a distance from others in public spaces
Be in a ventilated space
Matric balls/ Christmas parties to be avoided or postponed.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
