Staff Reporter
The government is concerned with the high rate of COVID-19 infections in the Free State and Northern Cape despite a marked drop of cases in other parts of the country.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said this during a televised address on developments in South Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday evening.
He said the two provinces stand out from the others because the number of infections that they have recorded as a proportion of their respective populations have remained relatively high for several months.
“We are . . . focusing our efforts on these provinces to understand what is driving these infections and what measures we need to take to bring them down,” said Ramaphosa.
In the 24-hour period leading to Saturday evening, the Free State – which has a population of about 2.9 million people – recorded 467 new cases of the disease.
At least 149 were reported in Mangaung Metro with 84 coming from Fezile Dabi district.
There were 113 in Thabo Mofutsanyana, 87 in Lejweleputswa and 34 in Xhariep districts.
Since last year, the province has recorded a cumulative total of 155 940 with an 85 percent recovery rate or 132 799 recoveries.
Over 6 500 deaths have been reported in the province.
The provincial case fatality rate is 4.2 percent and most of the fatalities have occurred in the Thabo Mofutsanyana district.
The majority of the deaths are in older age groups of 45 years and above where 5 719 people have succumbed to the disease.
About 41 percent or 2 677 deaths were recorded among males.
The president went on to announce the relaxation of the COVID-19 lockdown restricts from adjusted Alert Level 3 to Level 2 starting Monday.
He said while the third wave is not yet over, the country has seen a sustained decline in infections over the last few weeks.
The average number of daily new infections over the last week is 29 per cent lower than the preceding seven days, and 48 per cent lower than the seven days before that.
The adjustments mean that the national daily curfew will now start at 11pm ending at 4am.
Non-essential establishments like restaurants, bars and fitness centres will need to close by 10pm.
This is to allow their employees and patrons to travel home before the start of the curfew.
All gatherings will be limited to a maximum of 250 people indoors and 500 people outdoors.
Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, not 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 sale of alcohol from retail outlets for off-site consumption will be permitted between 10am and 6pm from Monday to Friday.
Alcohol sales for on-site consumption will be permitted as per licence conditions up to 10pm.
The wearing of masks covering the nose and the mouth remains mandatory for every person when in public spaces.
Failure to do so will be deemed criminal.
Funerals remain restricted to no more than 50 people and night vigils, after-funeral gatherings and ‘after-tears’ gatherings are not allowed.
Ramaphosa said over a quarter of the adult population in South Africa have received at least one vaccine dose and more than seven million people are fully vaccinated.
More than 14.6 million doses have now been administered in the country.
In the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and the Western Cape, more than one in five adults is now fully vaccinated.
At least a million doses are now being administered every four to five days.
