{"id":494129,"date":"2021-05-28T07:51:08","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T05:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=494129"},"modified":"2021-05-28T07:51:08","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T05:51:08","slug":"government-looking-at-gatherings-and-other-restrictions-as-tougher-lockdown-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/494129\/government-looking-at-gatherings-and-other-restrictions-as-tougher-lockdown-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Government looking at gatherings and other restrictions as tougher lockdown looms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation on the measures government will introduce to stop the spread of the third Covid-19 wave in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) met on Thursday afternoon to further discuss these interventions, with further restrictions around gatherings top of the list of planned interventions, reported <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/health\/2021-05-28-stricter-rules-considered-with-third-wave-of-covid-19-imminent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BusinessDay<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The current adjusted level 1 lockdown restrictions allow for gatherings of up to 250 people. Government is also considering the extension of the evening curfew period, which is currently in effect from 00h00 &#8211; 04h00.<\/p>\n<p>It is understood that further restrictions around the sale of alcohol are not currently being considered, although health experts have warned that these could be looked at as a last resort going forward,<\/p>\n<p>These restrictions largely align with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/493213\/health-department-submits-recommendations-for-tighter-lockdown-in-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recommendations<\/a><\/strong> made by \u00a0South Africa\u2019s Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) and the department of health earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>The Western Cape health department has also <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/493903\/updated-lockdown-recommendations-for-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recommended<\/a><\/strong> similar strategies, with a particular focus on limiting gatherings at events such as funerals.<\/p>\n<p>The department said that all of the government\u2019s efforts should be placed on these issues before looking at other restrictions as they will help reduce transmission and flatten the curve.<\/p>\n<p>However, it said that government could also look at\u00a0on the\u00a0sale of alcohol if it was facing hospital capacity problems.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation this weekend or early next week, with acting minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni confirming on Thursday (27 May) that a family meeting is coming &#8216;soon&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are as cabinet discussing the and consulting on the measures to make sure that we protect South Africans. A decision will be taken soon after the consultations and we will announce the date on which the president will hold the family meeting,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can confirm to South Africans that there will be a family meeting soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday South Africa reported 4,424 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total reported to 1,649,977.<\/p>\n<p>Deaths have reached 56,170, while recoveries have climbed to 1,548,092, leaving the country with a balance of 45,715 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 828,204.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/494071\/ramaphosa-to-address-south-africa-on-new-lockdown-measures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ramaphosa to address South Africa on new lockdown measures<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to address the nation in the coming days on the measures government will introduce to stop the spread of the third Covid-19 wave in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":398917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-494129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494129","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=494129"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":494151,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494129\/revisions\/494151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}