Media platforms yesterday reported that the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) and Cabinet had been advised to lift the ban on the sale of cigarettes and alcohol and move the country to lockdown level 2.
Such a move would likely come with strict enforcement of basic public health measures such as social distancing, hand-washing, use of sanitisers and the wearing of masks.
Speculation suggested that President Cyril Ramaphosa would address the country before the end of the week, but the Presidency would not confirm this.
TimesLIVE said a recommendation to ease the lockdown, and lift the ban on the sale of cigarettes and alcohol, came from a meeting of directors-general of national departments on Sunday.
The news platform quoted an unnamed director-general as saying: ‘The conversation was that if we don’t open more sectors of the economy, there’s going to be more damage.’
News24 said it had confirmed that Ramaphosa chaired meetings of the NCCC and Cabinet on Tuesday ‘where the overwhelming argument was in favour of fully reopening the economy’.
It said that if the recommendation was accepted by the NCCC and endorsed by Cabinet, Ramaphosa could announce the change before the end of the week.
The report said that four sources ‘who have knowledge of the discussions told News24 that the economic devastation of the cigarette sales ban could no longer be justified’. The argument put forward in the discussions was that the country had lost billions of rand in tax revenue as a result of the ban, while illegal sales of cigarettes had flourished. The same argument was made for the reinstated alcohol ban.
Government officials said they were not in a position to comment on the discussions.
The Department of Basic Education announced yesterday that the final matric exams this year would run from 5 November to 15 December. It said the later-than-normal start would allow enough time to complete the curriculum, and given pupils enough time to study.
Positive cases grew in South Africa yesterday by 2 810 to a cumulative total of 568 919 (with 432 029 recoveries). Deaths rose by 259 to 11 010.
The highest tally of cases is in Gauteng (194 685), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (101 499), the Western Cape (100 536) and the Eastern Cape (82 779).
In other virus-related news
- Germany recorded its biggest daily increase in infections, with more than 1 200 cases reported in 24 hours;
- France reported 2 524 new cases in a day, the highest daily rise since its lockdown was lifted in May;
- Spain, which has recorded Europe’s highest tally of infections, at 326 000, reported 1 418 new infections on Tuesday and said there were 675 ‘active outbreaks’ in the country;
- Brussels made face masks compulsory in all public areas of the Belgian capital amid a rise in cases; and
- Greece reported 262 new cases, its highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic.