With the rise of new variant, Omicron, should South Africa expect a harder lockdown anytime soon? President Cyril Ramaphosa says they’ll monitor the situation.
While South Africans are probably pleased with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to keep the country under Level 1 of the lockdown, this could changer sooner than we think.
Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Sunday evening, 28 November 2021, giving an update on the country’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been exacerbated by the detection of the new Omicron variant. The new variant was discovered first by Southern African nations, which led to a number of countries implementing travel bans on those coming from Mzansi and its neighbouring nations.
“The National Coronavirus Command Council met yesterday to consider the recent rise in infections and the possible impact of the Omicron variant. This was followed by meetings earlier today of the President’s Coordinating Council and Cabinet, where a decision was taken that the country should remain on Coronavirus Alert Level 1 for now and that the National State of Disaster should remain in place,” Ramaphosa said.
SHOULD WE EXPECT A HARDER LOCKDOWN?
President Cyril Ramaphosa says keeping South Africa under Level 1 of the lockdown was partially motivated by the fact vaccines weren’t always readily available and that far fewer people hadn’t been jabbed.
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Ramaphosa says they will closely monitor infection rates and hospitalisation over the coming days and will review the situation in another week or so.
“We will then need to determine whether the existing measures are adequate or whether changes need to be made to the current regulations. We have started the process of amending our health regulations so that we can review the use of the Disaster Management Act to manage our response to the pandemic, with a view to ultimately lifting the National State of Disaster”
President Cyril Ramaphosa
Written by: Thabo Baloyi
