SOUTH AFRICA: South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a Level 2 lockdown to be effective from 31 May following the COVID-19 third wave threats in some parts of the country.
Addressing the nation in response to COVID-19 on Sunday, President Ramaphosa said the country has seen the surge of infections in previous weeks and an average of 3,745 daily new cases has been recorded in the country.
“This is an increase of 31 per cent on the previous week, and an increase of 66 per cent on the week before that.
“The provinces of Free State, Northern Cape, North West and Gauteng have reached the threshold of a third wave of infections.
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“It may only be a matter of time before the country as a whole will have entered the third wave”, said President Ramaphosa.
South Africa COVID-19 Infection
Early this year the country recorded the highest rates of infection in the Southern African region which led the country to tighten lockdown measures to Level 2 and later reviewed it.
South Africa lastly reviewed lockdown two months ago where some restrictions such as curfew and opening of some public spaces eased.
President Ramaphosa said the surge in new infections is due to the failure of people to observe essential health protocols.
Therefore the curfew will start at 11 pm and end at 4 am while bars and restaurants have to close at 10 pm to allow workers to reach home before curfew.
Gatherings have been limited to a maximum of 100 people indoors and 250 people outdoors.
“The increase in daily cases is following the same trajectory as it did at the start of the previous two waves”.
“While the country is headed towards the third wave of infections, we do not yet know how severe this wave will be or for how long it will last”, he said
He also added that delaying the spread of the virus is especially important now to allow as many people as possible to be vaccinated before the third wave reaches its peak.
