The South African government will end the National State of Disaster soon as the country entered a new phase in its management of the coronavirus pandemic, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced.
The National State of Disaster was introduced on 15 March 2020 and imposed a range of measures to contain the deadly Covid-19 outbreak which had been detected in the country 10 days earlier.
“It is our intention to end the National State of Disaster as soon as we have finalised other measures under the National Health Act and other legislation to contain the pandemic,” Ramaphosa said during a televised State of the Nation Address delivered in Cape Town in Thursday night.
He said so far nearly all restrictions on economic and social activity have already been lifted – largely due to the vaccination rollout programme which has covered 40 percent of the population of over 50 million people.
Citing latest data, he said South Africa had administered over 30 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, while nearly 42 percent of all adults and 16 percent of those over the age of 50 were fully vaccinated.
“This is the real achievement that many countries on our continent have not been able to reach,” Ramaphosa said, urging his compatriots to take the life-saving jab and continue to observe basic health measures.
He reminded fellow citizens that vaccines were the best defence against illness, death and Covid-19, which has claimed close to 100,000 lives locally.
“I’ve always said, from a personal point of view, had I not been vaccinated in December when I contracted Covid-19, I probably would not be standing here before you.”
NM/jn/APA