DEPUTY President David Mabuza is expected to deliver the much-anticipated ‘family meeting’ or Wednesday or sometime this week as the country prepares to go into the festive season.
The so-called ‘family meetings’ are usually convened and addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, but he tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday following a whirlwind tour to four countries in West Africa last week.
Mabuza has since taken over the reins in his absence for at least a week and on Tuesday chaired the National Coronavirus Command Council.
Sources in government said Mabuza could be forced to address the nation on Wednesday to give an update on the country’s response to COVID-19 including the re-evaluation of lockdown restrictions as the spread of the coronavirus escalates.
On Tuesday Mabuza’s spokesperson Matshepo Seedat referred all inquiries about the NCCC to the Government Communications Information System (GCIS)
Last month, Ramaphosa kept the country on adjusted level 1 despite a spike in Covid-19 infections.
This meant the midnight to 4am curfew would remain in place, while the sale of alcohol would be permitted within curfew hours.
Indoor gatherings were limited to 750 attendees and outdoor events limited to 2000 people.
The National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) met on Tuesday afternoon to decide if there’s a need to revise the lockdown restrictions.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla hinted that the national address would be held on Wednesday but wouldn’t be drawn to comment on what restrictions might come into effect.
“The matter of whether there will be restrictions is not up to myself or the Department of Health, we work with a whole team of people that advise us, make proposals and ultimately we take those proposals to the Coronavirus Council,” Phaahla told journalists in Pretoria on Tuesday.
“Now in terms of whether Deputy president will address the country tomorrow, that will be decided in the meeting taking place later today.
“That matter will be discussed in that meeting and taken to Cabinet.”
Phaahla warned South Africans against becoming complacent as the festive period officially gets underway this week.
“Please don’t wait for government, don’t wait for restrictions. We’ve been around this thing for 22 months – we know what to do,” he added.
outh Africa has recorded 13 992 new COVID-19 cases which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 180 785.
According to the Department of Health, this represents a 31.0% positivity rate.
A further 11 COVID-19 related deaths were reported bringing total fatalities to 90 148 to date.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service says it continues to provide laboratory-based surveillance to inform the public health response towards COVID-19 in South Africa.
With regard to tests conducted, 20 283 906 tests were conducted in both public and private sectors.
In the private sector, 10 931 420 tests were conducted while 9 352 486 tests were conducted in the public sector.
The Department of Health says the majority of new cases are from Gauteng with 48%, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 19%.
The Western Cape accounted for 10%, Free State and North West each accounted for 5% respectively, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga each accounted for 4% respectively, Limpopo accounted for 2% and the Northern Cape accounted for 1% of new cases.
The cumulative number of cases by province are as follows: Eastern Cape 606, Mpumalanga 617, Limpopo 328, North West 713, Northern Cape 191, KwaZulu-Natal 2715, Western Cape 1 464, Gauteng 6 711 and Free State 647.
- Additional reporting by SA News
