South Africa, which has seen a record high surge in coronavirus cases in the past week, has decided to suspend alcohol sales in the country with immediate effect, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday night.
Ramaphosa said selling alcohol during the Level 3 lockdown had contributed to the high number of casualties in the country’s hospitals, putting pressure on its capacity to deal with the trauma patients.
“We have therefore decided that in order to conserve hospital capacity, the sale, dispensing and distribution of alcohol will be suspended with immediate effect,” the president said in a televised speech Sunday night.
He added: “There is now clear evidence that the resumption of alcohol sales has resulted in substantial pressure being put on hospitals, including trauma and ICU units, due to motor vehicle accidents, violence and related trauma.”
By Sunday, according to the president, South Africa had registered 276,242 confirmed Covid-19 cases which has resulted in the deaths of 4,079 people.
“We are now recording over 12,000 new cases every day. This is the equivalent of 500 new infections every hour,” he said.
Ramaphosa also said the entire country was now under a curfew from 9pm (1900 GMT) to 4am starting on Monday ass the country remains Level 3 lockdown but with tighter regulations.
South Africa embarked on a hard lockdown from 27 March to the end of May this year.
This was eased in the first week of June under Level 3 lockdown, with the alcohol ban lifted two weeks after the rest of the economic sectors were given the greenlight to reopen the economy.
JN/APA