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The government has rejected ‘rumors’ about the introduction of a second hard blockade for the country, amid an apparent increase in coronavirus cases.
KwaZulu-Natal premiere on Sunday Sihle Zikalala He said a return to a strict lockdown is at stake, unless the country sees a decline in the number of daily coronavirus cases.
“Looking at the statistics, we can now safely say that we will definitely return to a hard lockdown if there is not an urgent and drastic change in behavior,” he said.
The prime minister said that a second wave of Covid-19 will be ‘stronger and more lethal’, not only in deaths, but also in terms of economic difficulties. “There is no use chasing profit today, only to be shut down by a hard lock tomorrow,” he said.
However, the spokesperson for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Mlungisi Mthsali, said The citizen that the department has not been instructed to move to a higher or tougher level of lockdown, calling the rumors surrounding the prime minister’s comments “hearsay and speculation.”
“There have been no discussions, unless it is yet to come.” He said that “much progress has been made from level 5, 4 and even 3” and that “he does not see any possibility of us moving to a higher level.”
When asked where the rumors of a stricter lockdown came from, Mthsali said it was likely due to “people” speculating about the growing number of Covid-19 cases.
“The numbers are growing, but we still have excess capacity (hospital beds). This blockage was to bring us to this point where we feel there is a balance; that there are infections but also hospitals with excess capacity ”.
Do more harm than good
ETM Macro Advisors founder Russell Lamberti said the lockdown has had and continues to have devastating effects on the lives and livelihoods of millions of South Africans.
“I am alarmed that another blockade is being considered after the extreme incompetence and mismanagement of the government during the first blockade,” he said.
Lamberti added that there is no good reason to increase blocking restrictions, as they do more harm than good.
“The lockdown restrictions increase destructive and corrupt state actions and leave companies sunk in a sea of uncertainty and loss of revenue,” he said.
Lock cannot be turned on or off
A move toward a hard lockdown will have dire consequences for citizens and the economy, the Free Market Foundation (FMF) said.
“A hard lockdown affects the poorest people much more than those in the middle and upper classes who can often continue to work from home,” said FMF project manager Chris Hattingh.
Hattingh said the economy is a “living organism,” from street corners to corporate boardrooms, in which people make decisions, trade with each other and find ways to improve their own lives and those of their families.
“You can’t just turn it on and off,” he said.
“Contemplating the possibility of subjecting people who are suffering financially and emotionally to another hard block shows, first, a lack of understanding of the effectiveness of the block and, second, a lack of empathy and understanding of how much people struggle to return their lives together. “
Extended state of disaster
The state of widespread national disaster has also faced increased scrutiny from business groups and political parties who want the prolonged coronavirus lockdown to end.
Opposition DA leader John Steenhuisen has said that the state of disaster undermines democracy, oversight and policy certainty, and bolsters what the party called “bad science,” promoting a climate of fear in the country.
The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, extended the state of national disaster for another month on October 14.
The government declared a national state of disaster under Section 27 (1) and Section 27 (2) of the Disaster Management Act on March 15, 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Although the state of disaster originally expired on June 15, the law establishes that the Cogta minister can extend it by notification in the bulletin for a month before it expires.
In a directive published on Wednesday (October 14), Dlamini-Zuma said the extension takes into account the need to continue to augment existing legislation and contingency arrangements undertaken by state bodies to address the impact of the Covid disaster. 19.
The state of disaster will now expire on November 15.
Read: Premier warns of another tough blockade for South Africa
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