Despite evidence that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases was decreasing in the country, South Africa has extended its National State of Disaster period to 15 October, cabinet said on Thursday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa first declared the state of disaster in the last week of March following the discovery of the Covid-19 pandemic cases in the country in the first week of that month.
The latest extension is the third, and “is meant to continue giving effect to the regulations that remain relevant to manage the spread of Covid-19 infections,” Cabinet said.
Ramaphosa’s first announcement in March came with a travel ban on foreign nationals from high-risk countries such as Italy, Iran and China into the country.
Meeting South African National Editor’s Forum members this week, Ramaphosa hinted that there might soon be another adjustment of lockdown regulations in response to the downwards trend of new Covid-19 cases.
South Africa’s recovery rate for coronavirus patients has jumped to 88.9 percent after 573,003 patients recuperated from the disease that has left 15,265 deaths from some 644,438 confirmed cases.
According to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, some 3,863,453 tests have been conducted to date, with 20,555 of them performed in the last 24 hours.
Globally, the minister said there were 27,738,179 confirmed cases of Covid-19, including 899,916 deaths reported to the UN World Health Organisation.
NM/jn/APA