Scientific advice, consultations informed easing of lockdown says Ramaphosa
The President said in providing guidance, the Ministerial Advisory Committee used the level of community transmission as the basis for determining the state of the pandemic in the country.
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa says government relied on scientific advice, consultations and the experience of other countries when it made the decision to gradually ease lockdown.
The President said this when he fielded oral questions from members of the National Assembly during a hybrid question and answer session on Thursday.
“In deciding on when to begin the gradual and systematic easing of the lockdown, government was guided by the views of the scientists, the experience of other countries and wide-ranging consultations.
“It also took into account the economic and social disruption caused by the lockdown, and the devastating impact it was having on people’s incomes and livelihoods,” he said.
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EFF leader Julius Malema had asked the President if the decision to ease lockdown from alert level 5 to level 4 and then level 3 within a short space of time was informed by scientific evidence and if he had been lobbied by any persons to ease lockdown for business operations to resume.
The President said in providing guidance, the Ministerial Advisory Committee used the level of community transmission as the basis for determining the state of the pandemic in the country.
He said that at that time, the proportion of Coronavirus tests that were positive had been consistently low for a long time and had remained in a narrow range of 1.5% to 3.5% for several weeks in all parts of the country except in the Western Cape.
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“In arriving at this decision, due consideration was given to the criteria suggested by the World Health Organisation for countries to transition from lockdown to re-opening of normal social activities,” the president said.
“We did this knowing that we would not be able to bring transmission under control by the time we had to ease the lockdown, but that it would give us the time we needed to strengthen our health system and put a comprehensive public health response in place. The WHO has supported South Africa in this approach.”
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