Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, says his government will petition for additional exercising time to prevent congestion in public spaces during allocated 6 and 9am hours.
This comes after he noted an increase in gatherings around Cape Town, as many people took advantage of the relaxed level 4 lockdown regulations.
One of the restrictions that have been lifted is exercising. You can only jog, run, walk or cycle from 6am to 9am in the morning within five kilometres of where you reside, but not in organised groups.
Many Western Cape residents gathered to jog, cycle or walk in areas such as the Sea Point Promenade and other walkways in the Strand on Friday morning.
There has been sharp criticism after some of them reportedly did not wear masks or practice social distancing. Winde says the exercise hours need to be relooked at.
“I really think this was not thought through properly specifically in the Western Cape where sunrise is much later than 6am and trying to squeeze everyone in to get their exercise between 6 (am) and 9 (am) does not make sense. We really need to have a relook at this restriction that should be opened up. There were 22 000 submissions to national government on issues around exercise and exercise is a healthy thing to do. If we’re trying to defeat a virus, it makes a lot of sense that people actually lead a healthy lifestyle.”
Under level 4 restrictions people are also required to wear masks when they go out in public among other requirements. The lockdown was put in place by President Cyril Ramaphosa to curb the spread of the deadly COVID-19.
Level 4 also includes an easing of regulations around the movement of people and a slight opening-up of economic activity.
The graphics below details lockdown level 4 rules
The Department of Health says the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in South Africa has increased by 304 to 5 951.
In a statement, the department says the number of fatalities from COVID-19 has risen by 13 bringing the total number of deaths to 116. The number of recoveries has risen to 2 382.
The Western Cape has the most cases at 2 507 followed by Gauteng on 1 507. More than 217 000 tests have been conducted in the country and more than 9 000 tests were conducted in the last 24-hour period.
