RESTRICTIONS ON SOUTH AFRICA ARE COMPLETELY UNJUSTIFIED -PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA

Sun 28 November 2021:

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa address to the nation about the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Following meetings of the National Coronavirus Command Council, the President’s Co-ordinating Council, and the Cabinet, the president delivered his address.

The President says there are still a number of things about the variant that we do not know, and that scientist in South Africa and elsewhere in the world are still hard at work to establish.

As more data becomes available, we will have a better understanding of whether Omicron is transmitted more easily between people, whether it increases the risk of reinfection, if the variant causes more severe disease, and how effective the current vaccines are.

The President says vaccines do work. Vaccines are saving lives. “Since we launched our public vaccination programme in May 2021, over 25 million vaccines doses have been administered in South Africa. This is a remarkable achievement.”

He says while this is welcome progress, it is not enough to enable us to reduce infections, prevent illness and death and restore our economy. Vaccination against COVID-19 is free.

The President calls on every person who has not been vaccinated to go to their nearest vaccination station without delay. He says if there is someone in your family or among friends who is not vaccinated, I call on you to encourage them to get vaccinated.

Vaccination is by far the most important way to protect yourself and those around you against the Omicron variant, to reduce the impact of the fourth wave and to help restore the social freedoms we all yearn for, he says.

Talks around mandatory vaccines for certain locations and activities are ongoing. A task will report to the interministerial committee on vaccines.

“If we don’t address this urgently we will vulnerable to new variants,” Ramaphosa says.

Ramaphosa says matric rage festivals, staff parties and other large conference gatherings should be avoided.

Ramaphosa says South Africa is currently looking at booster vaccines. Healthcare workers are first in line to receive the J&J booster shot. A third Pfizer vaccine shot might also be introduced.

Government has set up a task team that will undertake broad consultations on making vaccination mandatory for specific activities and locations.

The task team will report to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Vaccination chaired by the Deputy President, which will make recommendations to Cabinet on a fair and sustainable approach to vaccine mandates.

The President says the introduction of such measures is a difficult and complex issue, but if we do not address this seriously and as a matter of urgency, we will continue to be vulnerable to new variants and will continue to suffer new waves of infection.

He says where gatherings do take place, all the necessary COVID protocols must be closely observed. Every additional contact we have increases our risk of becoming infected or infecting someone else.

The National Coronavirus Command Council met yesterday to consider the recent rise in infections and the possible impact of the Omicron variant.

This was followed by meetings earlier today of the President’s Coordinating Council and Cabinet, where a decision was taken that the country should remain on Coronavirus Alert #Level1 for now and that the National State of Disaster should remain in place.

The President say in taking the decision not to impose further restrictions at this stage, we considered the fact that when we encountered previous waves of infection, vaccines were not widely available and far fewer people were vaccinated.

Ramaphosa says further restrictions won’t be implemented. The country will remain on alert Level 1.

Ramaphosa reminds South Africans of the curfew between 00:00 and 04:00.

Ramaphosa says we are deeply disappointed by the decision of a number of countries banning entry from SA and other countries because of the Omicron variant.

Vaccine inequality cannot continue, Ramaphosa says. Until everyone is vaccinated, more variants will emerge, he says.

The restrictions on SA are completely unjustified. Ramaphosa: “It’s not informed by science. It will further damage the economies of affected countries.”

The President has called upon all those countries that have imposed travel bans on our country and our Southern African sister countries to urgently reverse their decisions and lift the bans they have imposed before any further damage is done to our economies.

“We should not panic. We have to live with this pandemic. We will endure and we will overcome,” Ramaphosa says.

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