South Africa will on Sunday midnight move to the least restrictive lockdown it has been in since the country took the drastic step in March to bring the country to a standstill, and will see the country open its borders for international travel for the first time in half a year.
South Africans will also now be allowed to be out until midnight, as the curfew is relaxed to only last from 12pm until 4am.
The economy was brought to a standstill, and though restrictions have been eased gradually, some sectors of the economy such as the tourism sector were held back as borders remained closed, keeping the lucrative business of foreign tourists out of the country
In an address to the nation on Wednesday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country would move to Level 1 of the lockdown at midnight on Sunday September 20.
The address follows meetings this week with the national coronavirus command council, the president’s co-ordinating council and the cabinet.
The country went into complete lockdown at the end of March, shutting down the majority of the economy except for essential services.
The risk-adjusted strategy used to curb the spread of the coronavirus has gradually been eased with the country moving to Level 2 in August, which finally saw most the economy reopened.
Ramaphosa said the move to alert Level 1 will mean a further easing of restrictions on social, religious, political and other gatherings, subject to certain restrictions.
He said the number of people in a venue may not exceed 50 percent of the capacity at the venue.
Venues can have a maximum of 250 people indoors, while a maximum of 500 people are allowed to gather outdoors.
In terms of international travel, Ramaphosa said the country will gradually and cautiously lift restrictions on international travel into and out of South Africa, which will take effect from October 1.
He said it will be subject to various containment measures.
Travel may be restricted from countries which have a high infection rate.
“Travellers will only be able to use one of the land border posts that have remained operational during the lockdown or one of the three main airports: King Shaka, OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airport.”
The president said travellers would have to provide a negative COVID-19 test which is not older than 72 hours on arrival, and if they did not have it, they would have to go into quarantine at their own costs.
Alcohol will also now be sold on Friday, after it was initially only allowed to be sold from Mondays to Thursdays in premises where it was not consumed such as bottle stores. – Business Day