South Africa lifts midnight curfew

South Africa has lifted a midnight to 4 a.m. curfew on people's movement with immediate effect, believing the country has passed the peak of its fourth Covid-19 wave driven by the Omicron variant, a government statement said.

The country made the changes based on the trajectory of the pandemic, levels of vaccination in the country and available capacity in the health sector, according to a press release issued by Mondli Gungubele, a minister in the presidency.

South Africa is currently at the lowest of its five-stage Covid-19 alert levels.

"All indicators suggest the country may have passed the peak of the fourth wave at a national level," a statement from the special cabinet meeting said.

Data from the Department of Health showed a 29.7% decrease in the number of new cases detected in the week ending Dec. 25 compared to the number of cases found in the previous week, at 127 753, the government said.

South Africa, with close to 3.5 million infections and 91 000 deaths, has been the worst-hit country in Africa during the pandemic on both counts.

Besides lifting the restrictions on public movement, the government said gatherings will be restricted to no more than 1 000 people indoors, and no more than 2 000 people outdoors.

It also ruled that alcohol shops with licenses to operate beyond 11 p.m. may revert back to full license conditions, a welcome boon for traders and businesses hard hit by the pandemic and looking to recover during the festive season.

"While the Omicron variant is highly transmissible, there has been lower rates of hospitalisation than in previous waves," cabinet said, adding that the wearing of masks in public places remained mandatory. Failure to wear a mask in South Africa when required remains a criminal offence.

Isolation

South Africa has recalled rules that no longer required people without symptoms of Covid-19 to isolate or test if they have been in contact with a positive case, the government announced, saying an amended circular will be re-issued.

Last week the health ministry said that asymptomatic individuals who had been in contact with a case of Covid-19 no longer had to isolate but should monitor for symptoms for 5-7 days and avoid attending large gatherings. read more

It had added that only those people who developed symptoms needed to get tested and that those with mild symptoms should isolate for eight days and severe cases for 10 days.

It had also revised protocols on quarantine, saying all quarantine facilities outside the home would be stopped, while contact tracing efforts would also be scrapped aside from in specific scenarios such as cluster outbreaks.

The reason for the revision was based on a number of scientific factors including the fact that, most people have vaccinated with at least one vaccine dose and developed some level of immunity. This has contributed to the current low hospitalisation and high recovery rates, the department said.

Now all those protocols will be recalled after the Department of Health was inundated with media, stakeholders and public enquiries and comments following the release of the revised regulations.

"In line with the principles of transparency and openness, the department has decided to put the implementation of the revised policy changes on hold, while taking all additional comments and inputs received into consideration," it said in a statement.

"This means the status quo remains, and all prior existing regulations with regards to contact tracing, quarantine and isolation remain applicable."

The country has led the continent in terms of Covid-19 cases and deaths as well as vaccinations, with 3.42 million cases reported and 90 854 fatalities.

Its experience has been closely watched around the world after it was among the first countries to identify the more transmissible Omicron variant. Cases started declining this week, with 7 216 new cases and 25 deaths reported in the past 24 hours. -Nampa/Reuters