Cape Town – South Africa will move to adjusted alert level 4 from midnight tonight for 14 days, as President Cyril Ramaphosa announced tighter restrictions that include a ban on alcohol, a tightened curfew, school closures and a restriction on gatherings.
President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement on Sunday evening following meetings with the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), and the President’s Coordinating Council & Cabinet.
For two weeks, from Monday 28 June, until Sunday 11 July, level four lockdown regulations will be in place, which include:
- All gatherings whether indoors or outdoors or prohibited. These include political cultural, social and religious gatherings.
– Funerals and cremations will continue to be permitted, but attendance may not exceed 50 people, and all social distancing and health, protocols must be observed.
– The curfew will in place from 9pm until 4am and all non-essential establishments will need to close by 8pm.
– The sale of alcohol is prohibited for on-site and off-site consumption.
– The closure of schools and other educational institutions will be brought forward and schools will start closing from Wednesday, June 30 and all schools will be expected to be closed by Friday.
– Travel in and out of Gauteng is prohibited for leisure purposes. However those coming into the province for work or business will be allowed.
Ramaphosa said the Delta variant, first detected in India, is currently driving the increase of infections in country’s third wave and is thought to be twice as contagious.
This variant was first detected in India at the end of March and is now found in 85 countries around the world.
In South Africa it has been detected in five provinces, including the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
“The evidence we have is that the Delta variant is rapidly displacing the Beta variant which has been dominant in our country until now,” he said.
“We are concerned about the rapid spread of this variant firstly because it is more transmissible than previously circulating viruses.”
On Saturday, Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said that the country’s third wave was likely to surpass its second wave peak.
Director of the Kwazulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP), professor Tulio de Oliviera said the highly infectious Delta variant, seems to be dominating the uptick in new Covid-19 cases.
South Africa recorded over 15 000 new infections on Sunday, with 122 deaths. Gauteng accounts for the majority of new cases, with 66 percent, followed by the Western Cape with nine percent.
“We are in the grip of a devastating third wave. The peak of this third wave looks set to be higher than the peak of the previous two waves,” Ramaphosa said.
“The first wave lasted 15 weeks, the second wave lasted nearly 9 weeks. We don't know how long this one will last, but indications, are that it could last longer.”
President @CyrilRamaphosa addresses the nation on Government's response to the #CoronaVirusSA pandemic https://t.co/c6xUNpNZNd
kelly.turner@africannewsagency.com