President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday, announced further Covid-19 restrictions as South Africa battles a third wave and an increase in coronavirus infections.
Ramaphosa's address to the nation happened as the daily Covid-19 infections were on the rise and the country was recording an average of 5 000 daily infections in recent days.
Restrictions imposed under alert level 3:
Sale of alcohol
- Regulations relating to alcohol have been strengthened. The sale of alcohol from retail outlets and the on-site consumption of alcohol such as bars and restaurants will be permitted from 10am until 9pm.
- Sale for off-site consumption is limited between 10am to 6pm on Monday to Thursday, except on public holidays.
- Sale for on-site consumption permitted until 9pm.
- Drinking alcohol in public places is prohibited.
Curfew
- Every person is confined to his or her place of residence from 10pm until 4am daily.
- Non-essential establishments, including restaurants and bars, must close at 9pm.
Limit on gatherings
- Under the adjusted, level 3 regulations, all indoor and outdoor gatherings will be limited to 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors.
- After funeral gatherings are not allowed.
Ramaphosa made his address after he held consultations with the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), the President’s Coordinating Council (PCC) and Cabinet earlier on Tuesday.
Over 55 000 people have died from Covid-19 countrywide since the outbreak in March last year. Around 1.7 million infections have been recorded.
Ramaphosa once again highlighted the importance of physical distancing, avoiding crowds and wearing masks.
He said these measures were still important and that failure to wear a mask would still result in arrest or being fined for failure to protect others from the disease.