Adjusted Level 2 for SA

Source: © SAnews.gov.za President Cyril Ramaphosa

This is with effect from Monday, 13 September 2021.

Steady decline in cases

This follows a steady decline in new Covid-19 infections.

The President said the decrease in the number of new infections across the country spurred the decision to move the country to a lower level of restrictions.

“While the third wave is not yet over, we have seen a sustained decline in infections across the country over the last few weeks. The average number of daily new infections over the last week is 29% lower than the preceding seven days, and 48% lower than the seven days before that.

While the third wave peaked in Gauteng far earlier and declined far faster than in other provinces, there is now a marked decline across all provinces,” he said.

Adjusted Alert Level 2

Ramaphosa said that after thorough consultations, cabinet had decided on the following measures for Adjusted Alert Level 2:

• The hours of curfew will now start at 11pm and end at 4am.
• Non-essential establishments like restaurants, bars and fitness centres will need to close by 10pm to allow their employees and patrons to travel home before the start of the curfew.
• All gatherings will be limited to a maximum of 250 people indoors and 500 people outdoors.
• Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, then no more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used.
• The sale of alcohol from retail outlets for off-site consumption will be permitted between 10am and 6pm from Monday to Friday.
• Alcohol sales for on-site consumption will be permitted as per licence conditions up to 10pm.

The President said the measures are expected to be reviewed in two weeks and warned that infections in the Free State and Northern Cape remain a concern.

Vaccinating the nation

On the vaccine front, President Ramaphosa announced that the country has secured enough Covid-19 vaccines to cover the entire adult population of South Africa.

Ramaphosa said although securing the vaccine doses is an important step; citizens still need to come forward to get the jab.To date, at least 14.6m vaccine doses have been administered with healthcare workers vaccinating one million South Africans every four to five days.

“We are increasing the pace of vaccination and ensuring that we reach those that are most vulnerable to serious illness. While everyone aged 18 years and older is eligible to be vaccinated, we are concentrating our efforts and resources on those over 60 years of age and those with co-morbidities. To date, over 57% of persons over 60 years of age have been vaccinated. This is a great achievement, but we need to reach them all,” he said.

Thus far, seven million people are now fully vaccinated.He said vaccines remain the strongest source of protection against severe illness and encouraged all unvaccinated people in South Africa to get the jab at one of the thousands of vaccination sites in the country.

“There is now overwhelming evidence from hundreds of countries that vaccines are safe and provide strong protection,” he said.

Local government elections and the pandemic

With the country set to elect new leadership for more than 250 municipalities on 1 November 2021, President Ramaphosa said discussions with political parties were held to reiterate the importance of Covid-19 health protocols and adherence to the National State of Disaster regulations.

Gender-based violence

The President also expressed concern at recent gender-based violence (GBV) incidents reported in the media.