Photo: GCIS / Flickr
Photo: GCIS / Flickr
Nkoszana Dlamini-Zuma has addressed the nation on Tuesday, to provide us with a significant update on the future of our Level 3 restrictions. The minister has already introduced three amendments to the alert level, with banks, funerals, and beaches now operating under new conditions – but when will the end eventually be in sight?
What will it take to get out of Level 3?
That could take a while. Speaking earlier today, Dlamini-Zuma would not be drawn on a forecast for a specific date when Level 3 laws would inspire. However, the veteran ANC member met us halfway, and explained what needed to happen before the government could even consider loosening the current restrictions:
- ‘No definitive date’ can be set down by the government at this point.
- However, we know what to look for: South Africa will have to first get past the ‘peak’ of this second wave.
- The numbers – for new cases, hospitalisations, and deaths – must also see a ‘sufficient decline’ before restrictions are eased.
Dlamini-Zuma suggests the restrictions ‘will remain for a while’
Until these targets are met, South Africa will remain at Level 3 of lockdown – and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has lamented the sheer unpredictably of COVID-19:
“The movement of people is allowed but not during the curfew of 21:00 – 5:00. She says exceptions will be made for permit-carrying workers – the paperwork must be signed by an employer”. Social, religious, political, traditional council meetings and gatherings at sports grounds remain prohibited but people may visit libraries, museums, and galleries.”
“The government cannot give a definitive date when the regulations will be capped because there’s no telling how the virus will progress in the coming weeks and months. [Level 3 restrictions] will only be reviewed once we have passed the COVID-19 peak – and when the numbers have declined sufficiently and not to take us to another wave.”
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
#COVID19 |Dlamini-Zuma says government cannot give a definitive date when the regulations will be capped because there’s no telling how the virus will progress in the coming weeks and months.
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) January 12, 2021
