SA Gov
President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the relaxation of some of the lockdown restrictions, but the country remains on Alert Level 3 of the lockdown restrictions.
He addressed the nation on Monday night, just hours after the first 1 million doses of the Covid19 vaccine arrived in the country from the Serum Institute of India.
“Now that the vaccines have arrived they will be tested at the National Control Laboratory to confirm that their integrity has been maintained during transportation,” Ramaphosa said.
“After testing, they will be distributed across the country to thousands of our healthcare workers who every day put their own lives at risk to save others,” he added.
President Ramaphosa said that provincial health departments have submitted their distribution plans and about 200 facilities have been identified to which the vaccines can be distributed.
“The vaccines that we are procuring have gone through meticulous, multi-stage testing processes, including large trials involving thousands of people,” adding that they have been shown to be safe in large clinical trials.
He said the vaccine would be available to all adults living in South Africa, regardless of their citizenship or residence status, but he said no one would be forced to take the jab.
Meanwhile, in announcing the relaxation of some of the lockdown restrictions, President Ramaphosa said the country recorded the lowest daily increase in infections since the beginning of December last year.
In fact, the average rate of new infections has been steadily coming down over the last three weeks, indicating that we have now passed the peak of the second wave,” he said.
President Ramaphosa said Cabinet agreed to amend the curfew from 11 pm to 4 am, permit faith-based gatherings under strict conditions, opening of beaches and public spaces, and permitting the sale of liquor.
"The sale of alcohol by licensed premises for off-site consumption will be permitted from Mondays to Thursdays, from 10 am to 6 pm. Duty-free shops, registered wineries, wine farms, micro-breweries, and micro-distilleries will be able to sell alcohol for off-site consumption during their normal licensed operating hours."
"The sale of alcohol by licensed premises for on-site consumption – such as restaurants and taverns – will be permitted throughout the week from 10 am to 10 pm," the President said.
Political reaction to the President’s speech was mixed.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said that the first vaccines only arrived “on our shores today” is a failure, not an achievement.
He said while the DA welcomed the “nonsensical beach ban and the easing of alcohol restrictions and the curfew”, Steenhuisen said it came too late to save the hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
The EFF said the easing of alcohol restrictions will lead to increased hospital admissions.
IFP MP, Mkhululeko Hlengwa, said the President’s vaccine roll-out plan lacked transparency, while ACDP leader Kenneth Moeshoe welcomed the announcement that no one will be forced to take the vaccine, even if there will be indirect pressure from other quarters.
ANC national spokesperson, Pule Mabe, said the governing party welcomed the President’s announcement on vaccine roll-out, adding that it was important to stress that no one would be forced to take the vaccine.
