SA moves back to alert level 1, UK red list talks promising

President Cyril Ramaphosa moved SA back to lockdown alert level 1 last night.

The decision means that the curfew has been shortened, restrictions on alcohol sales eased and more people are now allowed to attend indoor and outdoor gatherings. Mask-wearing remains compulsory.

Aside from the eased restrictions, Ramaphosa announced some significant developments, including talks he had with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson over removing SA from the UK's travel restriction red list. 

“Earlier today I had a call with the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to discuss this matter. I put SA’s case to him, which he understood very well,” he said.

“We both agreed that decisions of this nature should be informed by science and are hopeful of a positive outcome when the issue comes up for review in the coming days.”

He said while UK scientists were concerned about the presence of the virus's Beta variant in SA, the “reality” was that the Delta variant was “now by far the dominant variant in the country”.

The widely-expected move to level 1 will help many business owners breathe a little easier.

Among the level 1 measures are:

• The hours of the curfew will change, from 12 midnight to 4am;
• The maximum number of people permitted at a funeral will increase from 50 to 100. As before, night vigils, after-funeral gatherings and ‘after-tears’ gatherings are not allowed;
• The sale of alcohol — for both off-site and on-site consumption — will be permitted, according to normal licence provisions. However, no alcohol may be sold after 11pm; and
• The wearing of masks in public places is still mandatory, and failure to wear a mask when required remains a criminal offence.

One measure that did raise some eyebrows was increasing the maximum number of people permitted to gather indoors from 250 to 750, and the maximum number of people being permitted to gather outdoors increasing  from 500 to 2,000. 

While SA's vaccination numbers are rising steadily, the government believes more still needs to be done to convince people to get the jab.

“Getting vaccinated is not only about protecting yourself and those around you. It is also about preventing new and more dangerous variants from emerging, as the virus is able to spread and mutate in unvaccinated populations,” the president said. 

Despite some concerns over the slow uptake of the jab, the government is moving swiftly ahead with plans for a vaccine passport, which it calls a “vaccine certificate”.

“The department of health will soon be rolling out a vaccination certificate, which will provide a secure and verifiable proof of vaccination,” Ramaphosa said.

“It can be used to facilitate travel, access to establishments and gatherings and other forms of activity that require proof of vaccination status. Our approach is informed by World Health Organisation guidelines and is in line with international best practice.

“Streamlining and standardising proof of vaccination will also go a long way towards getting a number of international travel restrictions both from and into our country eased.”

Tomorrow, the government will be opening vaccination sites around the country to reach more than 500,000 people.

The department of health has identified priority districts in each province based on the number of unvaccinated people and the current vaccination coverage in each district. This will be the first Vooma Vaccination Weekend in a series of outreach programmes.

HeraldLIVE