South Africa Keeps Restrictions Low As COVID-19 Cases Rise

On Thursday, the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) has retained lockdown restrictions at "adjusted level 1," which is the lowest of a five-tier system of restrictions.

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"It makes sense to keep lockdown at this level as hospitals are not overwhelmed at this stage. We need to tighten lockdown measures when hospitalization admissions and ICU are higher," said Angelique Coetzee, chairperson of the South African Medical Association (SAMA).

Nevertheless, South African authorities warned that parties and weddings posed the greatest risks for transmission as they were considered super spreaders.

Health Minister Joe Phaahla has said the NCCC instructed his institution to monitor new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths mainly driven by the Omicron during this festive season.

"We call upon all travelers, especially those who are unvaccinated or partly vaccinated coming from areas declared hotspots, to get vaccinated before hitting the roads to protect their families and friends they will be visiting during this period associated with large social gatherings like parties and weddings, which can be 'super spreader' events that carry a huge risk of transmission of the virus," Phaahla noted.

Over the last months, South Africa has been the worst affected country by the pandemic in the African continent with higher levels of cases and deaths.

On Wednesday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported that 26,976 new COVID-19 cases were identified in the country, which brings the number of confirmed cases to 3,231,031. Over the past 24 hours, 54 deaths associated with the virus were recorded, bringing the number of fatalities to 90,226.