In his address to the nation, on Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced changes to the harsher lockdown measures implemented on December 28, 2020. He focused on a number of issues regarding the re-adjusted lockdown level 3, as the country battles a second wave of the coronavirus.
Closure of 20 land ports
In the latest adjustment to the lockdown regulations, 20 land ports have been closed to control the number of infections through the borders:
Health workers under pressure
The President said these new measures will hopefully bring relief to the country’s health workers who are treating around 15 000 COVID-19 patients in different hospitals across the country:
Vaccine roll-out
The President announced that healthcare workers are among the first to be receiving the “much anticipated” vaccine. The roll-out will start soon:
President Ramaphosa said the government needs to vaccinate a total of 40 million citizens to try to suppress the spread of the virus. This number will boost the country’s chances of ‘herd immunity’, he explained.
