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By Zintle Mahlati 
1 hour ago
When the holiday season begins, South Africans will know tonight when President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the country on whether further restrictions will be implemented as Covid-19 cases rise.
The country recorded 4,173 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, an increase from the 2,295 cases reported on Tuesday.
Coronavirus cases have increased in some parts of the country, particularly in the Eastern Cape at Nelson Mandela Bay and the Western Cape, with the Garden Route and Cape Town area primarily affected.
Ramaphosa’s speech tonight follows his meetings with the Coronavirus Command Council and the Cabinet meeting, which was expected to confirm recommendations related to reducing rising infections.
It is reported that the new restrictions could possibly focus on curfews, restricting business hours for restaurants and bars, and also the sale of alcohol. These reports have not been confirmed.
Health experts had previously warned that South Africa was not in the second wave of the pandemic, but was experiencing outbreaks of hotspots.
The head of the Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, said the country was not in a second wave and was not on its way there.
He said he was concerned about the holiday season and the possible increase in cases if people began to abandon safety protocols that included wearing masks and maintaining a physical distance.
“My concern is the December period when there are three things that are going to happen that worry me. Firstly, people become complacent during the holidays and stop wearing their masks and don’t do social distancing and the second is that they start to go party. and we will end with super spreader events.
“The third is that I am very concerned about intergenerational family reunions, children are reuniting with their parents and grandparents and putting the elderly at risk. So those are the three things that worry me deeply in December and those three things could finish us off with a second wave in January, “he warned.
Karim had said that how the citizens behave will be the ultimate marker of what happens next.
“We have to control our own behavior if we don’t want to be in a second wave in January,” Karim said a week ago.
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