Economist, Dawie Roodt says we should all welcome every kind of further relaxation to the lockdown regulations.
He also stressed that we also have to admit that there is very little that stands in the way between a complete abolishment of the lockdown and what we currently have in place.
On Tuesday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the easing of the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown restrictions in South Africa:
The National State of Disaster will be lifted as soon as public comment on the health regulations published by the Department of Health.
Both indoor and outdoor venues can now take up to 50% of their capacity provided that, the criteria for entrance at those venues, there is proof of vaccination or a COVID-19 test not older than 72 hours.
If there is no provision for proof of vaccination or a COVID-19 test, the current upper limit will remain at 1000 people indoors and 2000 people outdoors.
Funeral capacity will increase from 100 to 200. After funeral gatherings after-tears and night vigils are still not allowed.
Masks are no longer required when outdoors. Masks only required indoors.
Roodt says: “I would have liked to see the President abolishing all these sorts of regulations that are still in place. The current things that are still left are so little that its really not going to make much of an impact on economic activities, you just get rid of it.”
Roodt says the kind of relaxation that the President has announced is not going to make much of an impact because there are far more important issues that are affecting the South African economy at the moment.
“So, yes its always nice to see the economy being in less of a lockdown but its hardly going to make any dent in the current environment that we find ourselves in.”
