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- South Africa’s lockdown rules are structured in alert levels, and the idea was always that they could go up and down, if necessary.
- Now, apparently, the government is considering going up a notch for the first time, taking SA from Alert Level 1 to Alert Level 2.
- The rules for blocking can be changed at any time, without prior notice.
- But if Tier 2 remains as is on the books, this is what would change in South Africa if a tougher lockdown is imposed in December.
- For more stories, visit www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that South Africa could face a second wave of coronavirus infections, if citizens are not vigilant enough. Now, government officials have confirmed, anonymously, to Bloomberg that the tighter restrictions are back in play in discussions this week.
On Tuesday, the Business for South Africa (B4SA) group asked for “certainty that there will be no other hard economic blockade (alert levels 3 to 5) in the country in the event of a second wave of Covid-19 infection,” but it did not ask for any promises about Level 2.
“The certainty that South Africa will not return to a hard lockdown, regardless of infection rates, would stimulate economic activity by unlocking business investment projects and consumer spending plans, which are currently on hold due to concerns about the response. from the government to a possible second wave of infections in South Africa, “the organization said in a statement.
It is unclear what that would look like. South Africa’s tiered system of lockdown restrictions, established as Alert Levels ranging from 5 (strict lockdown) to 1 (the current level), was configured to move both up and down, so that the rules previously used to Alert Level 2 could simply be re-imposed.
But since March, lockdown rules have constantly changed within what became alert levels, becoming less stringent even before the formal reduction between stages.
A similar dilution can come into play if SA were to return to Level 2.
However, as the rules are, this is what would change if South Africa returned to Tier 2.
Foreign tourism would be banned again, even for South Africans
The biggest change that Tier 1 brought about was the reopening of South Africa’s borders for leisure tourism (for some countries), allowing foreigners to visit and South Africans to travel abroad for more than just business.
The Tier 2 framework prohibits international air travel for pleasure. Repatriation flights, including entry flights, are still allowed for South African nationals, who are always allowed to enter the country if they can reach a border, and “the return of a South African citizen or permanent resident to their place of work , study or residence, outside the Republic “.
There would be no sale of alcoholic beverages on Friday
After restrictions on the sale of alcohol were relaxed, Level 2 prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages only on holidays, weekends and Fridays, in bottle stores, which could otherwise sell between 09:00 and 17:00 from Monday to Thursday.
The move to Tier 1 added only Friday sales to that list.
As is the Tier 2 rules, bars and restaurants could still sell alcoholic beverages on the weekend, and will only be required to abide by the general curfew.
The curfew will be reversed from midnight to 10pm
The Level 2 curfew is set from 22:00 to 04:00, instead of starting at 00:01 as it does in Level 1.
Although the previous curfew was unpopular, both because of its restrictive nature and because of the difficulties it created for industries with shift systems and hospitality businesses, government officials insisted that it both prevented the kinds of drunken gatherings most likely. to see the spread of viruses and kept hospitals less busy due to the reduction in traffic accidents.
Religious services would be traced to a maximum of 50 people at a time, and political events would be prohibited.
Religious gatherings can reach 250 people indoors and 500 people outdoors on Level 1, provided social distance is observed.
Going back to Level 2 would lower that maximum to 50 people again, subject to staying far enough away from each other.
For funerals, the current limit of 100 people would also drop to a maximum of 50.
Level 1 also brought a specific exclusion from the ban on meetings for “political events”, which would disappear as it is.
The rules would continue to apply nationally, regardless of the local level of coronavirus transmission in provinces or metropolitan areas.
Although the biggest area of concern today is the Eastern Cape, the plans for the regionally differentiated rules put forward by the government, and at one point foreseen in the regulations, were never used.
As regulations and planning stand, all of South Africa would move to Level 2, or an upgraded version of Level 1, no matter how full or empty hospitals are in different locations, and regardless of the actual rate of spread of the coronavirus.
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