‘By P. Sarojini’
Johannesburg, South Africa (CWBN)_ While South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended the state of emergency within the nation by a month (to 15 December) amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he has also eased restrictions in an attempt to resume the country’s economy. The president stated that the country will now allow travel from all international locations, subject to the required health protocols and the presentation of a negative Covid-19 certificate.
Ramaphosa addressed the country on Wednesday evening (11 November) and outlined his plans in terms of the coronavirus. “We expect that these measures will greatly assist businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors,” he said. The president added that he was conscious that South Africans had been “suffering from coronavirus fatigue”.
Highlighting the second wave of coronavirus currently spreading in many European countries, the president shared South Africa’s plans to avoid a second wave. He said that the problem was that people have begun to forget that the virus is still present all around and that it will remain for some time. “From the progress we have made, from the lessons we have learnt, we now know that under the current alert level 1 we have all the tools we need to prevent a resurgence…. In response to the rising infections (in South Africa), we are implementing the resurgence plan that has been developed together with the surge team deployed to South Africa by the World Health Organization,” the president stated.
The president referred to the precautionary measures taken by the country and said that the interventions include primary health care outreach teams to intensify contact tracing, daily community mobilization, ensuring the readiness of health facilities, and being ready to respond to possible clusters outbreaks. “For as long as we observe all the necessary health protocols and remaining restrictions – as individuals, as businesses, as institutions – there should be no need to return to a higher alert level,” he stated. President Ramaphosa also mentioned that the current extension of the National State of Disaster was only to ensure that all the necessary precaution measures could be kept in place.
Commenting on the new coronavirus vaccine, President Ramaphosa said that South Africa is working in collaboration with several multinational pharmaceutical companies to secure a safe and effective vaccine for its people as well as for the rest of the African continent.
“It is estimated that Africa will need around USD 12 billion and 750 million doses of an effective vaccine. Countries are going to have to allocate funding so that there can be access to vaccines to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus,” the president said.
Edited by Kaveesha Fernando
