13/06/2021
As Covid-19 cases continue to surge in the country, acting health minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said her department will make recommendations to the national command council this week.
Kubayi-Ngubane was speaking on SABC news on Sunday, expressing concern over the increasing cases.
“We are not yet at a place where we have reached herd immunity and the increasing numbers remain a concern and the basic things that we need to do to contain the virus remain critical. The wearing of masks and sanitising of masks are still very important.
“If South Africans continue to behave recklessly, numbers will go up. We are expecting to make other pronouncements on restrictions to the national coronavirus council this week,” she said.
At the end of May, the government announced the Covid-19 lockdown was moving up one notch to level 2, which meant the night-time curfew would start an hour earlier at 11pm. It also cut the number of people allowed to gather. No more than 100 people can attend events indoors, while the number for outdoor gatherings was halved to 250.
Kubayi-Ngubane pleaded with the nation to play its part in helping the health system.
“We’ve seen how the people responded in the first and second wave and we hope they will respond the same way in the third wave,” she said.
Ngubane said South Africans tend to let their guard down when they see restrictions being eased.
“What people need to remember is that the easing of restrictions doesn’t mean the virus is gone,” she said.
Ramping up the vaccine rollout
Kubayi-Ngubane also said their second phase of the vaccine rollout could be affected by the withdrawal of some of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
She emphasised that the contaminated batches have not been used in the country.
“South Africans should not worry and panic. Those batches were never used on anyone when they were put on hold,” she said.
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority
