Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane adress restaurant owners, staff, patrons along 7thstreets in Johannesburg, 22 July 2020, during the protest against the restrictions imposed by lockdown and the lack of deadline for restuarants affecting the livehoods of people. Restaurant owners, staff, patrons took to the streets to voice their anger. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
The National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) were due to meet on Thursday to discuss safety measures during the festive season, after a so-called “second wave” of new Covid-19 cases hit South Africa.
This according to Tourism minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane speaking on Wednesday during Tourism activation campaign.
She said council would also discuss the government’s stance on huge festive events that normally happen this month.
Further to this, Kubayi-Ngubane said the council would also discuss safety measures for beaches such as how many people would be allowed onto them.
“We normally have midnight countdowns [to the New Year] during this month, [but] I do not think those big events should happen this year.
“If I were to say they must take place, I would be reckless. We need to make sure that we preserve lives while we are also saving people’s livelihoods. The balance is very important,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.
“The NCCC will announce what can be done to ensure we do not have a surge in Covid-19 cases after the festive season, following a briefing by health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize.”
One such major event to be cancelled in Tshwane was the Jakaranda children’s home annual ‘Liggiefees’.
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Under level 1 regulations, gatherings for concerts and live performances are limited to 250 persons or less in case of an indoor gathering and 500 persons (or less) in case of an outdoor gathering.
This provided that no more than 505 of the venue’s capacity is used with persons observing a distance of at least one and a half metres from each other.
Whether these would change during this festive season will be announced by the NCCC.
On Wednesday, Mkhize announced that the country was experiencing a second wave of Covid-19 infections.
This after over 6 000 new cases were recorded, which saw total of 828 598 cumulative cases on Wednesday.
“Having observed the trends in the past couple of weeks, we had already sent a letter to all MECs urging them to prepare their respective provinces for this second wave.
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“Provinces need to ensure that testing turnaround times are as quick as possible to facilitate patient flow, assess bed capacity including recalling field hospital beds, attend to staffing and equipment needs urgently and to tighten up monitoring and evaluation and reporting to the national department,” Mkhize said.
This article was republished from Rekord East with permission
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