The big announcement this week as regards COVID-19 in South Africa is the fact that face masks are no longer mandated for wearing indoors, as per a repealed regulation by Health Minister Dr Joseph Phaahla.

“Having monitored the positive direction for more than three weeks we came to the conclusion that the peak infection which we concluded was a limited 5th wave driven by subvariants and not a new variant of concern was dissipating and that there was no more any eminent risk,” the minister explained in a press statement.

As such, this weekend will mark the first in over two years where wearing a mask has not been a requirement while outdoors or indoors. That said, Phaahla did clarify that if a business or venue chooses to enforce a face mask policy, it is its right to do so.

Either way, the coming weeks will prove interesting to determine what impact this significant change to regulations will have.

For now, the spread of the virus remains relatively low, with the past 24 hours seeing 1 050 new cases recorded according to the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH). This sees the total number of infections recorded to date climb to 3 990 057.

The department adds that seven fatalities have been recorded over the past 24 hours too, with the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa reaching 101 704.

As for the vaccine rollout, the past 24 hours has seen 24 469 jabs administered. As of 17:00 on 23rd June 2022, a total of 36 731 686 vaccines have been administered across the country.

The full outlook for COVID-19 in South Africa follows on below:

• COVID-19 Connect on WhatsApp – add 0600 123 456 as a contact and say “Hi”.
• World Health Organisation
• SA Coronavirus website
• SA Government
• SA Presidency

[Image – Photo by Mark König on Unsplash]