While new cases of COVID-19 were slightly declining, recommending the relaxation of lockdown measures would not be a good idea for South Africa at this stage, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said at a media briefing Friday.
“We are still far from where we can say the third wave is out. As the department, we will in no way recommend a relaxation of the restriction at this stage. The situation therefore remains precarious, this is no time to relax the restrictions,” he told the briefing, saying the government’s target was to vaccinate about 70 percent of the adult population by December this year.
Figures from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases on Thursday showed that 14,271 new cases were identified over the past 24 hours, while the latest fatalities stood at 473, bringing the total number of deaths to 76,247.
Phaahla said with this data, there would not be recommending to the National Coronavirus Committee and the Cabinet the relaxation of lockdown measures.
“We will recommend remaining at level three,” he said, encouraging more people to get COVID-19 vaccine jabs.
According to Phaahla, more than 7 million people in South Africa had received vaccine jabs, with over 3.9 million people fully vaccinated. Enditem
