By Lehlohonolo Lehana
Western Cape premier Alan Winde says South Africa is now at a point where it can end all Covid-19 restrictions on mask-wearing and gatherings.
SA has the lowest level of restrictions since the hard lockdown imposed in March 2020, but limits remain on the size of large gatherings such as conferences and sporting events, and travellers flying to SA have to provide proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test not older than 72 hours.
In a media briefing on Tuesday (7 June), Winde said he had sent an official letter to president Cyril Ramaphosa calling for an urgent President’s Coordinating Council (PCC) meeting to discuss the changes.
“In practice, this means that we need to allow congregations, convention centres, stadiums, and other economic hubs to operate at full capacity once again while we continue to safely navigate life. By doing away with these restrictions, we will enable businesses to operate at full capacity and grow,” he said.
“Residents should be allowed to practice the necessary behaviours that they deem fit and that they have learnt throughout the pandemic, to protect themselves and those around them.”
Winde said this change can be made as there has been a continued decoupling between Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations, and deaths. The clearest indicator of this is that in the Western Cape there has been a reduction in severe disease during the current resurgence and the fourth wave, compared to earlier waves, he said.
While the Western Cape briefly met the previous technical definition of a wave on 11 May 2022 – these cases stayed at this level for just two weeks and did not increase beyond 1200 new cases a day. As such, the National Department of Health did not declare the recent resurgence as a wave.
“The recent Quarterly Labour Force Survey has demonstrated that our country’s unemployment rate has reached a crisis level and needs to be addressed with the same urgency that we showed when confronting Covid-19.
“It is for this reason, based on clear data in support of this call, that I call for the lifting of all remaining COVID-19 restrictions, and for this to urgently be done. Mr President, it is a time that you call for an urgent PCC.”