Ramaphosa to address South Africa on Covid-19 lockdown on Sunday evening

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation at 20h00 on Sunday (28 February) to discuss developments in relation to the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The address follows meetings in recent days of the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), the President’s Coordinating Council (PCC) and Cabinet, the presidency said on Sunday afternoon.

The president’s address will be broadcast and streamed on a range of platforms that are accessible to South Africans and international audiences.

The country moved to an adjusted level 3 lockdown at the start of February and has subsequently begun vaccinating healthcare workers.

On Saturday, 1,447 new Covid-19 cases were reported, with a further 157 new deaths announced.  The number of health care workers vaccinated under the Sisonke Protocol is 67,303.

President to address the nation on developments in Covid-19 response https://t.co/uCINm5f09l

— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) February 28, 2021

Despite the steady reduction in cases over the last month, South Africa still has a number of lockdown restrictions in place. These include:

• The sale of liquor by licensed premises for off-site consumption is permitted from 10h00 to 18h00, from Mondays to Thursdays. excluding Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The sale of liquor by licensed premises for on-site consumption is permitted, from 10h00 to 22h00;

• Every person is confined to their place of residence from 23h00 until 04h00 daily, unless a person is performing an essential service or has an emergency. People travelling on late-night flights have also been given exemption;

• Closing time for most establishments, whether indoors or outdoors, is 22h00;

• All social gatherings are prohibited;

• Gatherings at faith-based institutions, are permitted but limited to 50 persons or less for indoor venues and 100 persons or less for outdoor venues. If the venue is too small to hold the prescribed number of persons observing a distance of at least one and a half metres from each other, then not more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used.

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