South Africa’s national state of disaster has been extended to 15 March due to the current surge of the coronavirus pandemic now driven by a mutant variant which is fast-spreading across the country, Cabinet announced on Thursday.
The country first declared a national state of disaster in March last year following the outbreak of the pandemic in the first week of that month.
There have been several extensions since then, with the latest expected to end on 15 February this year now extended for another month.
The first two Covid-19 cases brought into the country were from South Africans returning home from a holiday in Italy – Europe’s epicentre of the disease at the time following Wuhan City in China, its origin.
South Africa has lost nearly 47,000 people to the disease, but is on the verge of vaccinating its health workers first with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week ahead of the national vaccination programme to fight the pandemic.
“We all have to stand together to overcome the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, improve the lives of South Africans and grow our economy.
“Cabinet encourages all sectors of society to work together to ensure a new social compact that will set us on a path to make South Africa a better place for all,” Cabinet Spokesperson Phumla Williams said.
Meanwhile, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to deliver his State of the Nation Address (SONA) Thursday evening, Williams said.
The president is expected to outline his country’s strategies in its war against the virus and its efforts to revive the economy that has lost millions of jobs due to the pandemic, she added.
On its part, the Presidency urged South Africans to use the SONA as a “rallying point to turn around our economy, end gender-based violence and femicide, and tackle the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment.”
NM/as/APA