Health dept set to meet command council to discuss Covid-19 regulations in absence of state of disaster
The DA has called on the government to scrap all Covid-19 restrictions, including masks.
Various government departments will meet with the national coronavirus command council this week to put up proposals of Covid-19 regulations to be implemented in the absence of the national state of disaster restrictions.
It has almost been two years since the national state of disaster restrictions were implemented on March 23, 2020, as a measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Currently, the country is under alert level 1. Last month, during his state of the nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government intended to end the national state of disaster.
The health and other departments were given the task to draft alternative measures that would assist in containing Covid transmissions in absence of the national state disaster.
While the talks are set to take place this week, the DA has called for the government to scrap all Covid-19 restrictions, including the wearing of masks in public spaces.
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In a statement on Monday, DA leader John Steenhuisen said the party wanted an end to all Covid-19 restrictions because “they are doing more harm than good by restricting South Africa’s social and economic recovery”.
“Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs, thousands of livelihoods have been destroyed, millions of school and university days have been missed, and billions of rands have been lost to tax revenue, which could have gone to poverty relief. It is time to focus all of our energies on regaining what has been lost.
“Like other countries, masks should only be mandated in high-risk contexts, such as oncology wards,” Steenhuisen said.
“It is time to treat Covid-19 in the same way as we treat other health risks, such as HIV, TB, cancer and maternal mortality.”
Like the EFF, the DA also called for the opening of stadiums to fans.
Department of Health spokesperson, Foster Mohale said they would meet the cabinet this week and the final decision to end the state disaster would remain the cabinet’s responsibility.
Last week, minister Joe Phaahla said the department was hard at work revising its regulations.
Amid talks of changes, Phaahla cautioned that Covid-19 was not yet over.
He said communities must avoid reversing the “hard-earned gains we have made as we strive to end the pandemic”.
He said he was disappointed that the rate of infections was not declining steadily as anticipated.
“We can see the recurring spikes in several districts leading to a plateau of the curve instead of flattening similar to what we reported a month ago.
“As a result, the positivity has lingered between 7-10% over the last four weeks with 7% yesterday.”
According to the stats, Gauteng was still leading at 38.4% of new cases followed by Western Cape at 20% and KwaZulu-Natal at 15.5%.
Phaahla hoped reviewed health regulations would assist in a guided reopening of various economic and social activities, especially in the leisure and tourism areas with less risk of super-spreaders.
Phaahla said the department’s proposals would include amendments to travel requirements which could make it easier and cheaper to travel safely.
The national state of disaster level 1 has been extended until March 15.
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