{"id":458380,"date":"2020-12-28T18:01:37","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T16:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=458380"},"modified":"2020-12-28T18:01:37","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T16:01:37","slug":"ramaphosa-to-address-south-africa-on-monday-over-covid-19-developments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/458380\/ramaphosa-to-address-south-africa-on-monday-over-covid-19-developments\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa to address South Africa on Monday over Covid-19 developments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation at 20h00 on Monday evening (28 December) regarding developments related to South Africa\u2019s Covid-19 response.<\/p>\n<p>The address follows a meeting on Sunday of the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) and special sessions today of the President\u2019s Coordinating Council (PCC) and Cabinet.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa&#8217;s address will be broadcast and streamed on a range of platforms that are accessible to South Africans and international audiences.<\/p>\n<p>The president is expected to announce strict new lockdown restrictions in South Africa as a way of curbing rising infection rates.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA TO ADDRESS THE NATION ON DEVELOPMENTS IN SA\u2019S COVID-19 RESPONSE<\/p>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CyrilRamaphosa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CyrilRamaphosa<\/a> will address the nation at 20h00 today, Monday 28 December 2020, on developments in relation to the country\u2019s response to the Coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Presidency | South Africa \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6 (@PresidencyZA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PresidencyZA\/status\/1343582931982413835?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 28, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/458368\/south-africas-alcohol-ban-could-be-back-this-week-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bloomberg<\/a> <\/strong>reported that government is considering reinstating a total ban on liquor sales as the number of Covid-19 infections surge over the summer holiday season, quoting a person familiar with the discussions.<\/p>\n<p>The ban could start on Tuesday (29 December) and last through 10 January 2021, said the person, who requested anonymity because the information is not public and a final decision hasn\u2019t been made.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa had three record-breaking days of infections through 25 December, when it registered 14,796 new cases. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize a day earlier called for stricter measures to curb the spread, which has already battered the economy. The number of confirmed cases in the country passed 1 million on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The government\u2019s National Coronavirus Command Council is expected to discuss a potential ban on alcohol, said Lucky Ntimane, convener of the Liquor Traders Formations, which represents liquor outlets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do not think that a total ban on alcohol sales will be a solution either in the short or long term,\u201d the industry group said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The coalition of liquor traders proposed curfew measures and alcohol restrictions, if any, that still allow off-premises sales to allow for home consumption. A complete shutdown of liquor sales would mean \u201can end to the tavern market and the 250,000 direct jobs linked to the sector,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>Liquor companies that operate in South Africa include Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, Diageo Plc and Distell Group Holdings Ltd.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/455670\/covid-19-warning-to-south-african-business-in-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Covid-19 warning to South African business in 2021<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation at 20h00 on Monday evening (28 December) regarding developments related to South Africa\u2019s Covid-19 response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":445490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-458380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458380"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":458384,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458380\/revisions\/458384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}