Publications
Partners
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Tuesday evening address about the imminent lifting of the national state of disaster and other changes to alert level 1 restrictions “did not bring about a meaningful change”.
The president advised: “The approach is that both indoor and outdoor venues can now take up to 50% of their capacity, provided that the criteria for entrance are proof of vaccination or a [negative] Covid-19 test not older than 72 hours. As before, it is mandatory to wear a mask when in public indoor spaces, however, there is no need to wear a mask in an open space, while walking in the street or attending an outdoor gathering.”
READ: Government extends National State of Disaster again
But Wits University vaccinology Professor Shabir Madhi was less convinced, saying Ramaphosa’s announcement did not mean anything.
“The notion that we need to wait for the proposed regulations by the department of health to be put in place before lifting the state of disaster is misplaced. The new regulations are a complete disaster, and we still have a problem,” he said.
While addressing the nation on developments in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ramaphosa announced that the national state of disaster would be lifted as soon as the draft regulations were finalised. These regulations had been released for public comment and this did not mean the end of the pandemic.
“This means that we are changing the way we are handling the pandemic and we are learning to live with the pandemic. Even when the national state of disaster has been done away with, there are new regulations published by the department of health which will effectively act as a long-term replacement to the country’s state of disaster Covid-19 regulations,” Ramaphosa said.
He explained that the country would remain on alert level 1, but some measures would be in place as from Wednesday. Funerals will be restricted to a maximum of 200 people and there will be a two-hour limit on funeral services. Night vigils or post-funeral gatherings will still not be permitted.
READ: Govt plan to end state of disaster hampered by fears of another Covid-19 wave
Ramaphosa said the regulation on social distance had also changed, as a space of at least one metre between people was required, except at schools.
Political analyst Ongama Mtimka said several changes that had been made were welcomed. “The further delay in ending the state of national disaster, pending comments on the draft health regulations, seems to be more about leveraging on the unaccountable policymaking regime under the act than prudence in policymaking. The executive could drop the end of the state of disaster and introduce policies and regulations in the standard way they should in a democracy.”
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
