South Africa has extended its nightly curfew and limited the number of individuals at gatherings to curb the spread of COVID-19 as positive cases surge, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday.
The level two lockdown restrictions will begin on Monday, forcing non-essential establishments like restaurants, bars, and fitness centers to close by 2200 local time (2000 GMT) as the curfew will now begin at 2300 from midnight and end at 0400, Ramaphosa mentioned in an address to the nation.
All gatherings will likely be limited to a maximum of 100 individuals indoors from 250 and 250 individuals outdoors from 500. Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers, not more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used.
Ramaphosa mentioned according to the nation’s health experts, the current surge in new infections is due to the increasing number of social gatherings where individuals are not observing essential health protocols.
Funerals and so-called “after tears” events, as well as camps and sporting actions at schools have also been identified as other sites of increased transmission.
“The Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19 has therefore recommended that the nation urgently implement further restrictions to restrict the increase in infections,” Ramaphosa mentioned.
“It bases this recommendation on the sustained increase in new cases within the last 14 days, increased hospital admissions in almost all provinces and an increase within the proportion of COVID tests which can be positive.”
Over the last seven days, the nation has seen an average of 3,745 daily new infections, with cases rising by 4,515 over the past 24 hours to over 1.659 million cases. Over 960,000 individuals have been vaccinated within the nation.
The provinces of Free State, Northern Cape, North West, and Gauteng, which houses Johannesburg, have reached the threshold of the third wave of infections, and “it may only be a matter of time before the nation as a whole will have entered the third wave,” Ramaphosa mentioned.
