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By Nathan Craig 
11h ago
Durban – While the country goes to Alert Level 1 at midnight after weathering the Covid-19 storm, there is still the threat of a second wave of infection if precautions are not taken.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his national address this week, said the country had “weathered the storm” in its fight against the coronavirus and the data was trending downward.
However, he warned that the country is still in the midst of a deadly epidemic and that the most important task is to ensure that it is not affected by a second wave of infections like other nations.
Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, a clinical infectious disease epidemiologist and chairman of the ministerial advisory committee on Covid-19, said that while lockdown level 1 meant progress was being made, lowering the guard would allow for further increases.
“We couldn’t just stop the confinement, it would be too dangerous. We have not reached the threshold for low transmissions, although cases are decreasing. The threshold would require around 580 new confirmed cases per day, ”he said.
Karim said the move to Tier 1 was to allow the economy to breathe, while containing essential regulations.
“We have to maintain preventive measures such as hand hygiene, the use of masks and social distancing. We also need to regulate blockbuster events like spectator sports, religious and social gatherings. Checks need to be in place for international travel as well, as this is how our Covid-19 journey began. “
He said that once the National State of Disasters ended, there was no way to enforce the regulations as the rules were in the Disaster Management Law and the government would have to come up with other means to enforce the regulations. The National State of Disaster was expected to end on October 15.
The business was due to open almost completely next week, but months of lockdown left the economy in shambles.
Ramaphosa said the government made leaps and bounds to chart a way forward and emerged from the worst of the economic turmoil. The National Council for Economic Development and Labor (Nedlac) has agreed on an action plan for economic recovery.
“Nedlac’s social partners have made tremendous strides in an ambitious social pact for economic recovery,” Ramaphosa said.
The plan will be overseen by a presidential working committee chaired by the president. Business, labor and civil society leaders will meet monthly on the plan focused on job growth. The government has earmarked 500 billion rand for various interventions to keep the economy afloat. These include payments from the special unemployment insurance fund that have been extended for one more month.
“The benefit of the FIU was extended until the end of the national state of disaster to ensure that workers and companies whose incomes remain at risk can continue to receive support,” he said.
But economist Professor Bonke Dumisa said that while he supported the concept of an action plan, he was concerned about its implementation.
“The question of an action plan has been talked about for centuries and while I fully agree, I am concerned by those in Nedlac with their own agendas who have not accepted the fact that money does not grow on trees,” he said .
Dumisa said the United States was able to inject trillions of dollars into its economic stimulus, but South Africa did not have that luxury.
“We are faced with the possibility of high unemployment rates and a sovereign debt crisis. Twenty-one cents of every rand paid to the government goes towards debt repayment, so we are unable to accumulate additional debt due to hidden agendas and emotional reasoning. “
Some of the relaxed restrictions included meetings of up to 250 people for indoor meetings and 500 people for outdoor meetings. International travel for business and pleasure will be open starting October 1 subject to containment measures, with restricted flights to OR Tambo, King Shaka and Cape Town international airports.
Ramaphosa said this would be the new normal.
Sunday grandstand
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