After 750 days, President Cyril Ramaphosa ends national state of disaster

After 750 days, SA has declared an end to the national state of disaster.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced this on Monday night, saying all the measures that were put in place during the national state of disaster had yielded positive results.

He listed several of these, including the preparing of medical facilities to tackle the virus, getting millions of people vaccinated, rolling out the R350 social grant which helped thousands of unemployed people and the relief fund which assisted businesses during the pandemic. 

“We have now entered a new phase in Covid-19,” Ramaphosa said.

Since the start of the pandemic, on the worst day SA recorded more than 400 Covid-19 related deaths. This number has decreased significantly, with only 12 deaths recorded on the worst day last week. 

“While the pandemic is not over, these conditions no longer require that we stay in a state of national disaster,” Ramaphosa said.