Staff Reporter
South Africa has moved from Adjusted Alert Level 2 to Adjusted Alert Level 1 of the COVID-19 lockdown with effect from midnight.
This was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in a televised address on Thursday evening following meetings of the National Coronavirus Command Council, the President’s Coordinating Council and Cabinet.
He said the South African COVID-19 Modelling Consortium confirmed a few days ago that the country has emerged from a third wave of COVID-19 infections, dominated by the Delta variant.
“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,” said Ramaphosa.
The following measures, according to the president, will apply as part of Alert Level 1:
- The hours of the curfew will change from 12 midnight 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.
Ramaphosa said the government is looking at ways to further relax the restrictions, particularly with respect to sporting and cultural events.
He said to allow this, the Department of Health will soon be rolling out a vaccination certificate, which will provide a secure and verifiable proof of vaccination.
The certificate will be used to facilitate travel, access to establishments and gatherings and other forms of activity that require proof of vaccination status.
This, said the president, is informed by World Health Organisation guidelines and is in line with international best practices.
“Getting vaccinated is not only about protecting yourself and those around you,” said Ramaphosa.
“It is also about preventing new and more dangerous variants from emerging, as the virus is able to spread and mutate in unvaccinated populations.
“But we will only be able to get there if we are all vaccinated and we all continue to observe the basic health protocols.”
He said to date, the country has administered over 17 million vaccine doses.
Of that number, over 8.6 million people are fully vaccinated.
About 60 percent of South Africans over the age of 60 and 50 percent of people between the ages of 50 and 59 have now received at least one vaccine dose.
“We have set ourselves the target of vaccinating 70 percent of the adult population in South Africa by the end of the year,” said Ramaphosa.
“If we reach this target, the Department of Health estimates that we could save up to 20 000 lives.
“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.”
And starting tomorrow, the government will launch the Vooma Vaccination Weekend across the country with the main event taking place in Katlehong, Gauteng.
The Vooma Vaccination Weekends aim to mobilise people to get vaccinated as a means to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The public and private health sectors, organised labour and business, faith-based organisations, political leaders, civil society and traditional leaders are expected to join forces in promoting this vaccination drive.