President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation once again this evening, with the state of the extended adjusted level 4 lockdown being the talking point.

The past four weeks has seen the country move to a higher level of lockdown as the third wave of infections for COVID-19 reached new heights amid growing concerns over the delta variant of the virus, which has ravaged parts of SA and other regions of the globe too.

Despite all this, Ramaphosa and Cabinet have decided to move the country to adjusted level 3 lockdown from this evening.

"Cabinet this afternoon decided that the country should be moved from Adjusted Alert Level 4 and be placed on Adjusted Alert Level 3." – President Cyril Ramaphosa ????????#RebuildSouthAfrica

— Presidency | South Africa ???????? (@PresidencyZA) July 25, 2021

Ramaphosa explained that although the country appears to be beyond the peak of infections during the third wave, several areas of the country still remain hotspots, with the infection rate in specific provinces being a cause for concern. To that end, while Gauteng is showing signs of declining infections, but the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal appear to be reporting higher infection rates.

This new level will see the curfew pushed back slightly, with it starting at 22:00 in the evening and ending at 4:00 in the morning. Inter-provincial travel will once again be allowed, with restaurants and other venues now capable of accepting seated guests, however, they must be closed by 21:00 in accordance with the aforementioned curfew. As for gatherings, a limit of 50 people applies indoors, while outdoors is set to 100 people.

The divisive issue of the sale of alcohol sees it being permitted once again for offsite consumption from 10:00 in the morning until 18:00 in the evening from Monday to Thursday.

Looking at the vaccine rollout, President Ramaphosa confirmed that those aged 18 to 34 years old will be able to receive vaccines from 1st September onwards, with government working to ramp up its efforts in the coming weeks as more sources are being procured to ensure more vaccines are on hand.

"We will now allow people between the ages of 18 and 34 to be vaccinated from the 1st of September 2021. This will be in addition to the age groups that are currently eligible, which is everyone over 35 years of age." – President Cyril Ramaphosa ????????#RebuildSouthAfrica

— Presidency | South Africa ???????? (@PresidencyZA) July 25, 2021

[Image – CC BY-ND 2.0 GovernmentZA on Flickr]