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Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says South Africa will have to move to a level 1 lockdown and return to “normal activities” as part of its economic recovery.
In an interview with Radio Islam On Wednesday (September 9), Mkhize said that his department was initially concerned about a possible increase in cases by moving to a level 2 lockdown, but early data shows that there has not been a major increase in cases.
“We hope we can still contain the numbers. The last two weeks have been very encouraging without a rally, which we expect (to continue to be the case) if we move to the next lower level. “
Mkhize said the country will still need to follow important measures around the meetings. However, he said it was necessary to reopen the economy even more and get people back to work.
The minister said it was too early to provide a date on when the country could move into a level 1 lockdown, but confirmed that the government was currently discussing the issue.
“The president will come out in the next few days and will give us a sense of direction, but we will be preparing for people to start moving to the next level. When that is announced, of course, we will move to that level, but it has yet to be decided. “
Level 1 lock?
While the government has not given any indication as to what the level 1 lockdown would entail, there are still some segments of the economy that are still constrained under the current level 2 regulations.
These prohibitions include:
- International passenger air travel for leisure purposes;
- Passenger ships for international recreational purposes;
- Spectator attendance at any sporting event;
- International sporting events;
- Exclusions related to public transport services: refers to the fact that long distance public transport (buses and taxis) can only operate at 70% of its capacity;
- Exclusions regarding educational services: currently refers to grades that have not yet been returned and certain university classes.
The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture has been leading discussions in recent weeks on protocols to reopen the country’s events industry, with proposals to allow larger events with social distancing measures in place.
Meanwhile, analysts have pointed to the possible reopening of borders in the coming months.
In a note published Wednesday, following announcements of a massive drop in GDP in the second quarter of the year, Intellidex analyst Peter Attard Montalto said there is little boost to economic activity between August and October.
However, he noted that the partial reopening of South Africa’s borders in the last quarter of the year would help fuel economic recovery.
The sooner the better
Earlier this week, Mkhize said South Africa has overcome the first wave of positive Covid-19 cases, but warned that citizens must remain cautious to avoid a resurgence.
Speaking in a series of interviews With the media on Monday morning (September 7), the minister said that the latest data shows a clear improvement for the country.
“We never really knew what to expect, and the reality is that we can now safely say that we have passed the increase. There were days when we used to have 11,000 people who were positive and now we see numbers around 2,000.
“We haven’t gotten over the worst yet. We are concerned about what may happen in terms of a resurgence in the country, “he said.
Mkhize said the sooner the country can ease the level of restrictions, the better.
“It would have been logical that from level 3 to level 2, there would have been an increase in the number; it didn’t happen. We do not want to draw conclusions, because we have seen what happened in other countries where there was a pause for a few weeks before a resurgence, “he said.
“The sooner we get to level one, the better. The sooner we have a normal economy, the better. It is better for the country. We hope South Africans understand that to get there, we have to make sure we are equally cautious at level two, so there is no resurgence. “
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