Cyril Ramaphosa to SA on COVID-19 – “Recommit yourself to this fight”

President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation as expected this Thursday evening.

It was believed that the country will return to a strict lockdown level, however, it turned out that that the country is still on level 1, but more conscious effort to keep the pandemic from spreading is needed.

Though, the surge is being experienced in 2 places:

“Three weeks ago hospital admissions were 4,900. There are three areas of the country that account for most of these new infections. These are Nelson Mandela Bay and the Sarah Baartman District in the Eastern Cape and the Garden Route District in the Western Cape,” he said.

As regards the solution against the surge, Cyril listed them out. And they are:

“We are putting into motion the resurgence plan that we developed with the World Health Organization’s surge team. We are making more capacity available at hospitals and clinics in these areas.”

“Due to the high rates of infection in the metro, no initiation schools will be allowed in Nelson Mandela Bay.”

“To ensure that we maintain the current prevention measures, the National State of Disaster will be extended to the 15th of January 2021 in line with the Disaster Management Act. All existing Level 1 restrictions remain in force throughout the country.”

Speaking of the vaccines, the President said:

“We are participating in the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Global Vaccine Access Facility – known as the Covax facility – which aims to pool resources and share vaccine development risk and thus ensure equitable access to vaccines when they become available. We are encouraged that the Solidarity Fund will be making the initial contribution of R327 million towards this vaccine procurement on behalf of our country.”

In conclusion, he said: “So tonight, I am asking you to recommit yourself to this fight. We can still prevent the virus from spreading any further if we take the appropriate steps now. Just as we did in the early days of the pandemic, let us stand together and let us work together.”