Ramaphosa to update South Africans on Covid-19 measures
President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday evening update South Africans on the country’s measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic following a special Cabinet sitting, his office said.
The Cabinet sitting “considered recommendations of the National Coronavirus Command Council” (NCCC), the presidency said, adding that Ramaphosa’s address would be televised at 8pm.
The NCCC met on Wednesday morning to mull over the prospect of new restrictions to contain a spike in new Covid-19 infections in so-called hot spots around South Africa.
The NCCC, set up to steer the country’s response to the pandemic, is understood to favour curbs on alcohol sales and trading hours for bars and restaurants in regions where transmission rates have flared.
It was not clear at this stage whether an evening curfew could be on the cards, in terms of the council’s recommendations.
The NCCC’s advice would be tabled at a Cabinet meeting during the course of the day.
Three weeks ago, there were reports that Ramaphosa may return South Africa to some form of lockdown, but all economic indications have been for months that the country could not afford this.
Instead, Ramaphosa implored South Africans to be cautious and, in a nod to economic necessity, removed the remaining curbs on alcohol trade.
But since then there have been persistent calls for the current level 1 restrictions to be tightened to prevent an increase in infections in areas like the Eastern Cape from spiralling into a second wave spreading throughout South Africa.
The Nelson Mandela Bay metro by the end of last week accounted for roughly half of all new infections in the country.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation