- President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to address the nation at 20:00 on the latest developments in the country's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- It is expected that some restrictions will be relaxed, including the controversial booze and beach bans.
- This comes as new Covid-19 infections are declining.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to drop the booze ban and relax some of South Africa's lockdown regulations, two weeks before they were due to expire.
Alcohol sales are expected to resume - with restrictions - after pressure from the liquor industry citing the devastating economic impact of the ban.
It is also expected that he will announce the re-opening of beaches and those parks that were closed under the regulations, while the evening curfew will be pushed back to start at 23:00.
Nightclubs are, however, still expected to remain closed.
The Presidency in a statement confirmed that Ramaphosa is set to address the nation at 08:00 on Monday evening, "... on developments in relation to the country’s response to the Coronavirus [sic] pandemic".
This follows deliberations recently by the National Coronavirus Command Council, the President's Coordinating Council, and Cabinet.
President @CyrilRamaphosa will address the nation at 20h00 today, Monday 1 February 2021, on developments in relation to the country’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic. https://t.co/JCEmKpjHlw
— Presidency | South Africa ???? (@PresidencyZA) February 1, 2021
It also follows the arrival of South Africa's first batch of vaccines, expected to be rolled out in a few days to healthcare and other frontline workers.
The current amended Level 3 Lockdown regulations, announced by Ramaphosa mid-January, were only due to expire on 15 February.
New infections have, however, been dropping as the number of recorded infections goes down, and the test positivity rate dropping, suggesting that the country has passed the peak of the second surge in infections.
Hospital admissions are also declining.
New infections on Sunday totalled 4 525, down from a daily new tally of around 20 000 about a month ago.
It's Sunday, time for a weekly summary of #COVID19 in SA????A good week! Reported deaths now levelling off ??All indicators now on the decline ??• Cases = 6 342 (-44%)• Tests = 42 588 (-23%)• Test +ve = 15.0% (-27%)• Hospitalisations = 9 803 (-33%)• Deaths = 482 (-9%) pic.twitter.com/BqO5xyqmNu
— Ridhwaan Suliman (@rid1tweets) January 31, 2021
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