Local lockdown restrictions are being considered for coronavirus hot spots in South Africa



[ad_1]

The Western Cape government is considering local lockdown restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus in hotspot areas.

The province issued a “resurgence” warning on Wednesday, as the number of active cases has risen substantially from week to week.

In the last week alone, the province has witnessed a 52.1% increase in new cases, with a pattern established over time, he said.

Provincial Health Chief Dr. Keith Cloete said one of the only measures available to the Western Cape is whether it encourages public behavior to change dramatically.

“We will have to look and explore local restrictions. If people don’t behave in a way that helps us, we may have to be much tougher in the way we impose restrictions locally in the Western Cape, ”he said.

Cloete said his team has made a recommendation to cabinet with a special team set up by Prime Minister Alan Winde that will meet on Friday to discuss the details of these restrictions.

He said that by next week there will be more clarity on what exactly these restrictions will be.

“The prime minister and the cabinet have agreed that in the face of these growing infections it would be responsible to consider all the possibilities that can be done locally with the municipalities and to explore the appropriate application of the restrictions in the coming weeks and months. “

Commenting on the additional restrictions, Winde said the province cannot re-enter another lockdown due to the immense damage caused to the local economy.

He added that police raids and liquor inspections will increase over the next few weeks in places where people don’t adhere to the rules.

One of the possible considerations is movement limitations between access point areas. “Right now, there is no mechanism to close a border, but that’s what we’ll talk about on Friday,” he said.

As of November 25, the Western Cape has 7,241 active cases of Covid-19, with a total of 126,362 confirmed cases and 114,548 recoveries.

3,250 new cases have been registered throughout the country, bringing the total reported to 775,502. Deaths have reached 21,201, a daily increase of 118. Recovery data was not confirmed as Gauteng province needed to reconcile its data.


Read: Covid-19 hotspot alert for Cape Town as virus resurfaces



[ad_2]