Pretoria - Tshwane Executive Mayor Randall Williams has joined the call for the national government to urgently review the continued ban on alcohol sales in order to avoid causing further harm to crucial economic sectors in the country.
Williams based his comments on a decline in the number of active cases in the City of Tshwane as witnessed in recent weeks.
As it stood Williams said the City had moved from being in the “eye of the pandemic” in the province to show a drastic decline of active cases, which offered hope for the residents of the City.
He said as of Monday the number of cases were at 5 922, a positive step as opposed to where it was on January 19 with 13 399 active cases.
He said the day-to-day increase in cases had maintained a downward trend whilst there had also been a significant improvement in the recovery rate within the city.
With that in mind, Williams stressed the importance of ensuring that steps were taken to reopen the economy as it would now be close to a month since the national government had instituted the adjusted level three restrictions.
His main focus is the national curfew of 9pm and the subsequent ban on alcohol sales.
“I call on the national government to urgently review these restrictions to ensure we do not cause further harm to crucial economic sectors.”
“There are reasonable approaches that can be implemented while we continue to monitor the spread of Covid-19 and manage the strain being placed on our hospitals.”
He pleaded for off-site alcohol sales to once again be allowed from Monday to Thursday and for licensed establishments and restaurants to sell alcohol with extended operating times by lifting the curfew.
According to the Gauteng Department of Health’s latest figures as of Wednesday, there were 101 564 active cases with 93 763 recoveries in Tshwane.
Pretoria News