President Cyril Ramaphosa File picture: Jairus Mmutle/GCIS President Cyril Ramaphosa File picture: Jairus Mmutle/GCIS
Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa provided much-needed relief to struggling restaurants, casinos, cinemas and hairdressers when announcing that they would be reopened as the country eases its lockdown regulations.
He also announced a breakthrough in the treatment of Covid-19, with the drug dexamethasone, which is manufactured here in South Africa by local pharmaceutical companies and “in ample supply”.
“Following further discussions with industry representatives on stringent prevention protocols, and after advice from scientists and consultation with premiers, the Cabinet had decided to ease restrictions on certain other economic activities,” Ramphosa said.
These activities include restaurants for "sit-down" meals, accredited and licensed accommodation, with the exception of home-sharing accommodation such as Airbnb and conferences and meetings for business purposes, and in line with restrictions on public gatherings.
Cinemas theatres and casinos will be reopened and aligned to limitations on the gathering of people.
Personal care services, including hairdressers and beauty services, will be reopened and non-contact sports such as golf, tennis, cricket and others allowed.
Contact sports will be allowed only for training and modified activities with restricted use of facilities.
“In each instance, specific and stringent safety requirements have been agreed on and will need to be put in place before a business can reopen, and protocols will need to be strictly adhered to for businesses to remain open.
"Announcements will be made in due course to detail these measures and indicate the date from which these activities will be permitted,” Ramaphosa said.
Since the start of the outbreak, the country has recorded 80412 confirmed cases.
Of these, 44 331 people have recovered and there have been 1 674 deaths.
Nearly a third of all confirmed cases have been recorded in the last week alone.
The Western Cape has so far been hardest hit, with a total of 45 767 confirmed cases and 1 205 deaths.
“While community transmission has remained low across most of the country for the past nine weeks, it has been rising rapidly in that province.
"There are indications that transmission in the Eastern Cape is now starting to rise and may just be a few weeks behind the Western Cape,” Ramaphosa said.
In the midst of this life-destroying pandemic, the country was greatly encouraged by news this week of a breakthrough in the treatment of Covid-19, he said.
A study by the University of Oxford found that dexamethasone reduced deaths among patients on ventilation by a third.
“The Department of Health and the Ministerial Advisory Committee has recommended that dexamethasone be considered for use on patients on ventilators and on oxygen supply.
"We believe that this will improve our management of the disease among those who are most severely affected,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa also used his address to highlight the scourge of violence against women and children, which claimed the lives of at least 21 in the past few weeks.
“As a man, as a husband and as a father, I am appalled at what is no
less than a war being waged against
the women and children of our
country,” Ramaphosa said.
“At a time when the pandemic
has left us all feeling vulnerable
and uncertain, violence is being
unleashed on women and children
with a brutality that defies
comprehension.”
While commending the work of
police in arresting almost all of the
suspects, Ramaphosa said as these
accused made bail applications this
week, he had the utmost confidence
that the courts would send a strong
signal that such violence has no
place in society.
“At a joint sitting of Parliament
in September last year, I announced
an Emergency Response Plan to
combat gender-based violence
and femicide and that R1.6billion
in government funding would
be reprioritised to support its
implementation until the end of
the financial year.
"We now have a
National Strategic Plan to guide our
country’s national effort against
gender-based violence.”
In the last 18 months, 13 regional
courts have been upgraded into
sexual offences courts, and 7 000
evidence collection kits distributed
regularly to every police station in
the country.
"Many police, prosecutors,
magistrates and policymakers
have undergone sensitivity and
awareness training, and more than
3 000 government employees who
work with children and mentally
disabled persons have been checked
against the National Register of Sex
Offenders," Ramaphosa said.