Johannesburg – The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that the country will be moved into adjusted level 1 lockdown.
The president made the announcement during his ‘family meeting’ which was held on Thursday evening, as he addressed the nation on the government’s latest response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ramaphosa said, “In the last seven days, the average number of new cases was at around 1,800 a day. There are also sustained decreases in COVID-19 hospitalisations and deaths in all provinces. This is news that is welcome to all of us.”
“The current trends in the progression of the pandemic mean that a number of the restrictions in place can be eased, as per the recommendations of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19,” Ramaphosa announced.
Following meetings of the National Coronavirus Command Council and the President’s Coordinating Council, Cabinet has decided to move South Africa from Adjusted Alert Level 2 to Adjusted Alert #Level1 from midnight tonight.https://t.co/73LT2SWAWE
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) September 30, 2021
Ramaphosa announced the following changes that will be implemented to the current lockdown regulations:
A new curfew will be enforced from 12 am to 4 am – Non-essential establishments like restaurants, bars and fitness centres will need to close by 11 pm to allow their employees and patrons to travel home before the start of the curfew.
The maximum number of people permitted to gather indoors will increase from 250 to 750, and the maximum number of people permitted to gather outdoors will increase from 500 to 2,000. Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, then no more than 50 percent of the capacity of the venue may be used.
This includes religious services, political events and social gatherings, as well as restaurants, bars, taverns and similar places.
The maximum number of people permitted at a funeral will increase from 50 to 100. As before, night vigils, after-funeral gatherings and ‘after-tears’ gatherings are not allowed.
The sale of alcohol – for both off-site and on-site consumption – will be permitted, according to normal licence provisions. However, no alcohol may be sold after 11 pm.
The wearing of masks in public places is still mandatory, and failure to wear a mask when required remains a criminal offence.https://t.co/73LT2SWAWE
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) September 30, 2021
Vaccines
“Since we launched our national vaccination drive, it has been gathering pace. To date we have administered over 17 million vaccine doses. Over 8.6 million people are fully vaccinated, which is more than one-fifth of the adult population,” Ramaphosa said.
“We know that the older you are, the greater the risk that you will get severely ill with COVID-19 or that you will need to be hospitalised. We also know that the risk of death from COVID-19 is higher among the elderly than younger people,” Ramaphosa said as he encouraged the public to vaccinate against the virus.
“To reach our goal we need to administer an additional 16 million vaccine doses this year, which amounts to around 250,000 first dose vaccinations every single workday of every week until mid-December,” Ramaphosa further said.
You can walk into your nearest vaccination site with your ID or other proof of identity and be registered on the spot.https://t.co/73LT2SWAWE
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) September 30, 2021
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