South Africa to move to lockdown Level 4

Johannesburg, South Africa | XINHUA |  South Africa will move to lockdown Level 4 for 14 days with stringent measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, said President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday during a televised speech.

From June 28 to July 11, “all gatherings whether indoors or outdoors are prohibited. These include religious, political, cultural and social gatherings. A curfew will be in place from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., and all non-essential establishments will need to close by 8 p.m.,” he said.

Ramaphosa said restaurants must only serve takeaways and not allow people to eat in their premises. To ease the pressure that is placed on hospital services by alcohol-related emergency incidents, the sale of alcohol is prohibited for both on-site and off-site consumption.

Schools will start closing from June 30, and all schools will be expected to be closed by the end of the week.

Due to the high number of COVID-19 infections in Gauteng, travel in and out of the province for leisure purposes is prohibited.

“Our priority is to break the chain of transmission by reducing person-to-person contact and thereby help flatten the curve,” said the president, “The measures that we are putting in place now are designed to allow as much economic activity to continue as possible, while containing the spread of the virus.”

He said that the government is continuing with vaccination program. As of midnight yesterday, nearly 2.7 million people had received Johnson & Johnson or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine which is effective against the Delta variant that is circulating in the country.

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XINHUA