Easter weekend restrictions aimed at reducing infections, transmissions and deaths

President Ramaphosa announced the new terms and conditions of the country’s lockdown heading into the Easter weekend.

With the third wave of the Covid-19 virus almost a certainty, the South African government led by President Cyril Ramaphosa took the decision to implement a few changes to how the Easter weekend will be celebrated. The main purpose of the changes was to ensure that the third wave is manageable therefore needing the country to take action before it’s too late.

Ramaphosa explained, “Given the relatively low transmission levels, we have decided to keep the country on coronavirus Alert Level 1. However, due to the specific circumstances of this period, we need to make a few adjustments.”

• You can travel to another province, you can attend a church service, you can even go to a funeral with 99 other people but you can’t enjoy a drink at home this Easter weekend

After days of rumours and requests by religious groups, the president assembled the nation for the latest family meeting on 30 March where he announced there will be restrictions on the sale of alcohol for off-site consumption while also increasing the number of people people that will be permitted to physically attend religious gatherings. Ramaphosa stated that due to the role alcohol has in fuelling reckless behaviour he had decided to suspend the sale of liquor for off-site consumption only allowing for people to buy a drink at an on-site consumption establishment. “The sale of alcohol for off-site consumption will be prohibited from Friday (2 April) to Monday (5 April).

On-site sales of alcohol at restaurants, shebeens and bars will be allowed.” Another change for the Easter weekend is the permission for religious groups and organisers of non-religious events to allow either a total number of 250 people into indoor events and services, 500 people for outdoors or no more than 50 per cent of the capacity for venues is too small to accommodate such numbers with appropriate social distancing. All Covid-19 safety protocols should be adhered to at all times during this time to reduce the number of infections and transmissions. The president left various rules unchanged for the Easter period including maintaining the curfew between midnight and 4am, allowing public recreational spaces such as beaches, parks and dams to remain open, restricting funerals to a maximum of 100 people with a two-hour limit on services and permitting interprovincial travel.

• Fingers crossed for phase two of the vaccination drive after a disappointing first phase

After a slow, confused and inefficient first phase of the vaccine drive to protect frontline healthcare workers, the president announced that the second phase of the Covid-19 vaccination programme will start in mid-May. He said registrations for the vaccine will be opening up in April and added, “People will be encouraged to register online, but those without online access will be able to register in person. To ensure that we have the supporting infrastructure, over 2 000 vaccination sites have been identified across the country.” These include general practitioners’ rooms, community clinics and pharmacies, retail outlets and in some instances, larger facilities like stadiums and conference centres. The president added that an Electronic Vaccination Data System has already been established to manage the vaccine rollout and direct people towards vaccination sites closest to where they live. The government is also working through its provincial and district structures and community-based organisations to register those who do not have access to technology and is currently developing mechanisms to identify and register undocumented persons so that they too can be vaccinated.

• Gqeberha to be the source of hundreds of millions of Covid-19 vaccines for the country and continent

On 29 March Ramaphosa and his deputy David Mabuza visited pharmaceutical company Aspen’s manufacturing facility in Gqeberha (previously known as Port Elizabeth) and it was announced that about 30 million Johnson and Johnson vaccines have been secured and will be locally produced at the plant. Not only will South Africans benefit from the agreement between Aspen and Johnson & Johnson as they had also agreed to supply the African Union with up to 400 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine by the third quarter of this year. This will go a long way in ensuring that as many Africans as possible have access to the vaccine which is aimed at reducing the likelihood of death or the need for serious medical attention and assistance.  

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