Monday marks 20 months since South Africa has been in a National State of Disaster in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March last year.
The Disaster Management Act empowers the Cooperative and Traditional Affairs Minister to extend a state of disaster on a month-to-month basis once the first three months have expired.
The Act is currently being amended to give the National Assembly oversight power before a state of disaster can be extended monthly.
South Africa was declared a National State of Disaster for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
After the first three months expired in mid-June last year, the state of disaster was extended 17 times on a month to month basis.
The 18 month to month extension officially kicks in on Monday, 15 November until 15 December 2021.
South Africa remains under COVID-19 alert level 1 of the lockdown.
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Some have been calling for an end to the lockdown, while the Health Department is warning that a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections is expected between mid-December and early January next year.
In the video below, Co-Lead Investigator in the Johnson and Johnson vaccine trial Professor Linda-Gail Bekker gauges the possibility of a fourth wave:
