Johannesburg – The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has announced that the country will be placed under adjusted alert level 3.
This announcement comes following meetings of the National Coronavirus Command Council, the President’s Coordinating Council and Cabinet.
This will take effect later this evening once the regulations have been gazetted.
“The overall decline in new infections means that it is possible to gradually ease some of the restrictions on gatherings, movement and the sale of alcohol,” Ramaphosa said.
“We must continue wearing our masks at all times when in public, keep our distance from others and always ensure that windows are open and that there is a flow of fresh air,” the president warned during his address.
“The latest figures suggest that we have largely passed the peak of the third wave of infections, although there are areas in the country where we still need to be concerned because the rates of infection have not yet shown signs of decline,” Ramaphosa said.
The following changes will take effect:
The hours of curfew will remain the same, starting at 10pm and end at 4am.
Interprovincial travel for leisure may resume.
Non-essential establishments like restaurants, taverns, bars and fitness centres may be opened. These establishments will however need to close by 9pm to allow their employees and patrons to travel home before the start of the curfew.
Gatherings will be allowed but will be limited to a maximum of 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors. 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.
Gatherings include religious services, political events and social gatherings.
The limits on venue capacity also apply to restaurants, gyms, fitness centres, bars, taverns and similar places.
Attendance at funerals and cremations may not exceed 50 people and all social distancing and health protocols must be observed.
Night vigils and after-funeral gatherings are still not allowed.
The sale of alcohol from retail outlets for off-site consumption will be permitted between 10am and 6pm from Monday to Thursday.
Alcohol sales for on-site consumption will be permitted as per licence conditions up to 8pm.
Schools will re-open tomorrow, Monday the 26th of July, according to strict health protocols and other measures announced by the Minister of Basic Education.
The owners and managers of public buildings, centres, shops, restaurants, taxis and buses all have a responsibility to ensure that people on their premises or in their vehicles wear masks.https://t.co/PaHJTh51Ci
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) July 25, 2021
Vaccines
“As we have always said, our most effective weapon in the fight against COVID-19 is an effective and comprehensive vaccination programme. In the last few weeks, our vaccination campaign has made huge strides,” Ramaphosa said.
“We are now administering more than 240,000 vaccines every week day. A month ago, this figure stood at around 100,000 vaccines per week day,” the president further added.
As a result, we have now administered more than 6.3 million vaccines, with over 10 per cent of our population having received a vaccine dose.https://t.co/PaHJTh51Ci
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) July 25, 2021
“We will now allow people between the ages of 18 and 34 to be vaccinated from the 1st of September 2021. This will be in addition to the age groups that are currently eligible, which is everyone over 35 years of age,” Ramaphosa announced.
We are now able to allow people to present themselves at a vaccination site without an appointment and be registered and vaccinated.
This substantial increase in the rate of vaccination is made possible by improvements in the supply of vaccines.https://t.co/PaHJTh51Ci— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) July 25, 2021
Within the next two to three months, we are scheduled to receive around 31 million additional doses from Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.
This supply pipeline means that there will be sufficient vaccine doses available for the rest of the year.https://t.co/PaHJTh51Ci— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) July 25, 2021
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