Western Cape is the epicentre of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in South Africa and according to our sources, it is reportedly the only province that will revert back to Level 5 in the lockdown protocol, while other regions are eased into Level 3.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his most recent public service announcement, indicated that the approach to restoring the country’s economy is divided into five levels.
Understanding the different levels of lockdown
Level 5 is the phase we kicked off the lockdown with, in late March. Movement of all citizens — with the exception of essential workers — is restricted and draconian policies are implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Currently, we are in Level 4, the first step towards restoring the economy. Movement is still restricted and people are encouraged to stay at home and practice social distancing. However, industrial and agricultural sectors have been granted leave to reopen. as well as some private sector businesses.
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Stringent measures of decontamination are applied in areas deemed as hotspot zones of infection like public transport hubs. Joggers are also allowed to exercise for no further than 5KM a day, between 06:00 and 08:00.
Western Cape leads COVID-19 infections and deaths
This has alleviated a lot of frustration felt by people who’ve been cooked up in confinement for weeks but the latest COVID-19 statistics indicate that the rate of infection in South Africa has not slowed one bit.
At the forefront of increasing COVID-19 infections is the Western Cape. The province currently contributes 53.7% (6 105) of South Africa’s total known cases (11 350) of COVID-19 and 51.4% (106) of total deaths recorded (206).
When will South Africa go into Level 3?
While there have been murmurs and indirect inferences made by the government, there is no confirmation that South Africa will move ahead with implementing Level 3 as yet.
However, Ramaphosa indicated in his weekly mailer updates that this is not outside of the realm of possibility.
“We will be no different. We can and must expect infections to rise as more people return to work. We must accept the reality, prepare for it and adapt to it,” he said.
Source: Western Cape to go back to Level 5
Questions have arisen about whether restrictions would be eased in the country’s epicentre. With no clear directive from the DA-led provincial government, we have ascertained credible information which may indicate that Western Cape will be only province to step back into Level 5 restrictions.
The source we spoke to has wished to remain anonymous to protect their job. However, we can confirm that the employee works within the structures of government.
“We were told to return to our posts last week. But when our department return to work this week, we were told that only [ommitted] are required to continue working from our Cape Town offices. Other departments deemed as non-essential have been closed and we don’t know when we will return,” the source claimed.
Probing the reason for this, the source claims they were told that the Western Cape is reportedly preparing to return back to Level 5, following the dramatic increase in COVID-19 infections and deaths.
We reached out to the Western Cape government for comment and spokesperson of the provincial health department Nomawethu Sbukwana stated that:
“I unfortunately do not have this information, it is not the department of Health’s mandate to decide on the lockdown regularities. Only the President and the Premier have those powers.”
Nomawethu Sbukwana, Western Cape Department of Health Spokesperson
While we follow up with the relevant departments on this report, you can familiarise yourself with the different levels of lockdown by studying the table below:
