Supplied
President Cyril Ramaphosa struck a sombre tone as he placed the country under Alert Level 4 on Sunday night for the next 14 days, following a massive increase in coronavirus cases, spurred on by the Delta variant.
He said this variant had been identified in five provinces, including the Eastern Cape, Free State, Kwazulu Natal, Western Cape, and Gauteng which faces a leisure travel ban.
“We are in the grip of a devastating wave,” Ramaphosa said, announcing a stricter curfew, a ban on booze sales, and prohibiting all gatherings, including political and religious gatherings.
The measures announced include a new curfew from 9 pm to 4 am and bringing forward the closure of all schools, both public and private, from Wednesday.
“All social, religious, political, and other gatherings of any size are prohibited. Restaurants and other eateries may only serve food for take-away or delivery.”
President Ramaphosa said that attendance at funerals will be restricted to 50 people only and there will be no night-vigils or so-called after tears gatherings.
Wearing a face mask in public is mandatory.
“We will assess the impact of these interventions after 14 days to determine whether they need to be maintained or adjusted,” he said.
Meanwhile, the President said that 480 000 healthcare workers and over 2.2 million members of the public have received vaccines as part of Phase 2 of the rollout. He said registration will open soon (on Monday) for those 50 and above.
“Our priority is to break the chain of transmission by reducing person-to-person and thereby flatten the curve.”
Reacting to the announcement, political leaders said that the country was paying the price for the government "not doing their job."
DA leader, John Steenhuisen, said; "Every covid death and every job lost to the draconian restrictions he announced tonight are on President Ramaphosa now. He is now forcing South Africans to pay the price for his administration’s catastrophic vaccine failures, or “missteps” as he calls them."
The Beer Association of South Africa said it was seeking legal advice "government’s inexplicable decision to implement a fourth alcohol ban."
BASA said as others have pointed out there is a vaccine against COVID-19, but not against poverty.
"The rise in infections is a direct result of large gatherings, a lack of social distancing, and the failure to wear masks - not alcohol," it said.
