{"id":570424,"date":"2022-03-22T20:19:03","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T18:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=570424"},"modified":"2022-03-22T20:26:51","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T18:26:51","slug":"new-lockdown-changes-for-south-africa-including-masks-and-gatherings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/570424\/new-lockdown-changes-for-south-africa-including-masks-and-gatherings\/","title":{"rendered":"New lockdown changes for South Africa – including masks and gatherings"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced several changes to the current lockdown measures for South Africa as the country moves towards lifting the national state of disaster.<\/p>\n

In a national address on Tuesday evening (22 March), Ramaphosa said the country is now at a ‘watershed moment’ as it enters the next phase of managing the pandemic.<\/p>\n

He noted that fewer South Africans are getting severely ill, with an expected 80% of the population having some form of immunity due to a combination of vaccinations and previous infection.<\/p>\n

Ramaphosa said the government will lift the national state of disaster once the comment period around the long-term Covid regulations is finalised.<\/p>\n

However, he stressed that the eventual lifting of the state of disaster does not mean the end of the pandemic but rather signifies a change in the way Covid will be managed by the government.<\/p>\n

Based on scientific advice and the experiences of other countries, Ramaphosa said the following restrictions will be eased as part of adjusted level 1:<\/p>\n