South Africa will remain on adjusted level 4 lockdown for
the next two weeks, until July 25.
This announcement was made by President Cyril Ramaphosa when
he addressed the nation this evening, Sunday, July 11 at 20:00.
This means that all prior restrictions are still in place,
including the ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol and all gatherings,
except for funerals. The national curfew will also remain in place from 21:00
until 04:00 and schools will be closed until July 26.
Ramaphosa only made a few exceptions and said that
restaurants may now open for sit-down meals and gyms may also reopen their
doors.
“As things stand now, infections remain extremely high. With the fast-spreading Delta variant, we are experiencing a
third wave that is more severe than the first and second waves. For the last two weeks, the country has consistently
recorded an average of nearly 20 000 daily new cases. At present, the country has over 200 000 active COVID-19
cases and in the last two weeks, over 4 200 South Africans have lost
their lives to COVID-19,” Ramaphosa said.
“While Gauteng accounts for more than half of new infections,
infections are rapidly increasing in the Western Cape, Limpopo, North West,
KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga,” he added.
“Our health system countrywide remains under pressure. By next week, daily hospital admissions across the country
are likely to reach the levels observed during the peak of the first two waves. COVID-19 related deaths in hospitals are also increasing and have surpassed those observed at the peak of the first wave,” Ramaphosa added.
He mentioned that the national vaccination programme is expanding at a rapid
pace and that to date, more than 4,2 million people in South Africa have
received a vaccine dose, with one million of these having been done over the
past seven weekdays.
From this coming Thursday, July 15, those in the 35-49 age group, will be able to register on the Electronic Vaccination Data
System.
“On August 1, we hope to commence with vaccinations
for the 35+ group.”
