Cheers roared across the southern tip of the Motherland when the Presidency revealed, in the late hours of Thursday, that Level 1 lockdown has been adjusted to not include a curfew.
No more curfew on Level 1 lockdown
In a statement, the president’s office noted that after high-level meetings that took place on Thursday, a decision was reached to make crucial changes to Level 1 lockdown regulations.
Scientific data suggests South Africa has surpassed the peak of the fourth wave that was spearheaded by the Omicron variant. The Western and Eastern Cape are the only two provinces seeing increases in daily COVID-19 cases, and with the exception of the former, “there has been a decline in hospital admissions in all provinces.”
Most importantly, perhaps, was the observation made that “there has been lower rates of hospitalisation than in previous waves.”
“This means that the country has a spare capacity for admission of patients even for routine health services. There is a marginal increase in the number of deaths in all the provinces.,” the statement read.
Therefore, after observing all the data which made a strong case for an alleviation in restrictions, the government moved to make these adjustments to Level 1 lockdown:
- The curfew will be lifted. There will therefore be no restrictions on the hours of movement of people.
- Gatherings are restricted to no more than 1 000 people indoors and no more than 2 000 people outdoors. Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, then no more than 50 per cent of the capacity of the venue may be used. All other restrictions remain in place.
- Alcohol establishments that have licences to operate beyond 23h00 will revert back to full licence conditions.
Face masks and other health and safety protocols, like sanitising hands upon entry and exit of establishments, are still mandatory.