A hard lockdown not on the cards, says Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied rumours of the country reverting to a hard lockdown.

Ramaphosa addressed Parliament’s National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Tuesday, 27 October 2020, where he answered questions on several key issues including COVID-19, gender-based violence as well as corruption.

“We are continuing to analyse, manage the situation with the assistance of the medical advisory group where they are analysing the incidents of infections as they are unfolding throughout the country,” he said.

His comments will for the time being, put citizens at ease, following word that economic activities would be severely restricted once more. The Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize had expressed concern over the increase in daily infections and went on to warn that the trend would essentially reported to the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), which determines the lockdown levels.

Ramaphosa: ‘That is simply not true’

In a statement, Mkhize said the spike would  “inform the recommendations that the Health Department makes to the National Coronavirus Council.”

Despite the recent trend, Ramaphosa assured South Africans that such a move is not on the table, but did not say whether it would be considered.

“What we now need to do in light of what we are going through, I don’t want to be alarmist and I don’t want our people to be alarmed with the rumours such we are going to level three, that is simply not true and I want to assure everyone that that is not true,”

President Cyril Ramaphosa

Ramaphosa has further expressed concern over people being part of social gatherings, where a number of cases of the coronavirus emerge. The most recent one being dozens of students at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape, who contracted COVID-19. The students had apparently spent the night out partying at a local shebeen where the correct and safety measures were disregarded, including social distancing and wearing of masks.

“That is worrying and we must continue to say, as South Africans, we need to make sure that we heed adherence to the measures that have been put to us by the medical advisory committee. We all need to adhere to those measures, particularly now, as … we move towards that fun period of December where people will let their guard down,” he said.