South Africans will continue to observe a National State of Disaster on Covid -19 until April 15 following an extension of the emergency by another month by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma on Tuesday.
Dlamini-Zuma said the government has decided to extend the state of disaster from March 15 to mid-April when the situation would be reviewed.
The country has been under regulations of the National State of Disaster on Covid-19 since March 2020 when South Africa recorded its first cases of the virus, the minister said.
The extension took into consideration the “need to continue augmenting the existing legislation and contingency arrangements undertaken by organs of state to address the impact of the disaster,” she said.
Health experts said the remaining restrictions and regulations no longer served any purpose — and that the country needed to move on to a phase of learning how to live with the virus.
Wits University’s vaccinology professor Shabir Madhi said the remaining restrictions and regulations no longer served any purpose and should be lifted.
During his State of the Nation Address in Parliament in February, President Cyril Ramaphosa said government planned to scrap the National State of Disaster as the country entered a new phase in the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla later said various ministries were “working on alternative measures” to replace regulations related to the National State of Disaster which could be presented to the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) for discussions.
The NCCC is the body that regulates the measures needed to keep the National State of Disaster on Covid-19 under a careful watch.
NM/jn/APA